Reinstate CUPE Activist Katherine Grzejszczak!

It is urgent that the labour movement, anti-war activists and defenders of Palestine take action in defense of Katherine Grzejszczak, a paramedic and member of CUPE Local 4900.

Grzejszczak, who is also a member of CUPE Ontario’s Executive Board, was fired by York Region Paramedic Services management at the behest of Vaughan mayor Steven Del Duca on June 20th for her Facebook post defending Palestinians against Israeli state terror. Her message excoriates not only the bombing of Gaza, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen, but also the murders of starving Palestinian children, healthcare, municipal workers and journalists. As she wrote: “Any union or other organization that doesn’t fight this is choosing to stay silent during genocide.”

The firing of Grzejszczak comes on top of a growing wave of ruling class attacks across Canada and Quebec aimed at everyone speaking out for Palestine. In Toronto, the cops’ sinister Project Resolute dragnet has swept up innumerable pro-Palestine activists, while the Liberal government in Ottawa has outrageously banned the Palestinian rights group Samidoun. Support for Palestinian freedom and opposition to genocide should not be a crime! But for the U.S. imperialists and their Canadian lackeys, support to Israel is a red line, and those who cross it are made to pay. Furthermore, this criminalization serves to muzzle union militants, intimidate workers and put a chill on class struggle.

This attack cannot go unanswered. CUPE Ontario leader Fred Hahn, himself a target of the Zionist witchhunt, has come out in defense of Grzejszczak, pointing out that: “No employer should be able to silence any worker for challenging injustice.” While true, what’s needed are union-led protests in the streets and workplaces to back these words! To stop Israel’s genocide in Gaza, we need serious labour action, including union boycotts of military goods to Israel.

Every CUPE member, and every worker in Canada and Quebec has a vital stake in opposing these attacks, not least because our jobs and working conditions are also in the bosses’ crosshairs. All labour, the left and defenders of Palestine must stand with Grzejszczak and demand her immediate reinstatement with full back pay!

The fight for workers’ rights is directly linked to the fight of oppressed peoples worldwide. Mobilizing the power of labour in defense of Palestine will strengthen the fighting capacity of the unions here at home. There is no time to waste! An injury to one is an injury to all!

Contact the PDC at partisandefense.canada@gmail.com. To donate, send an Interac e-transfer to the same address.