Friday, December 14, 2007

Canadian Postal workers pass anti-Israel resolution

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B"H

Does anyone else think this is the most idiotic thing they have ever heard of? What exactly does this prove? (Outside of the obvious--demonstrating how much they hate Jews.)

Does this mean they won't deliver mail to or from Israel? Does it mean they won't deliver mail to or from businesses owned by Israelis? Nu?


I guess if it passes, and a Jew didn't get their mail, there would be a really good reason to sue, right? Or, if you are a Canadian Israeli and you didn't get a job with the post office, you would have really good reason to sue.

Maybe they won't issue any Golda M. postage stamps?

M
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By PAUL LUNGEN, Staff Reporter
Thursday, 13 December 2007
http://www.cjnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=13716&Itemid=86

TORONTO — A regional conference of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) has passed a resolution supporting the boycott of Israel and pledging an educational campaign about “the apartheid nature of the Israel [sic] state.”

The resolution, which also called for research into Canadian involvement in “the occupation” and for support for sanctions until Israel recognizes Palestinian self-determination, was presented by the Scarborough local and adopted at the union’s 23rd Ontario regional constitutional conference in London. It will be presented for consideration to the union’s national convention in April.

Jeff Levinson, a letter carrier for 24 years and a member of the Scarborough local, said he learned of the resolution from a colleague who attended the conference and told him it passed by a substantial margin, despite some opposition from the floor.

The resolution “is pretty biased to the Palestinians,” he said. “It distresses me. I’ve been working with these guys for years.”

Levinson, who lived on an Israeli kibbutz for a time and calls himself a Zionist, said passage of the resolution “bothers me in that it’s a political issue that is outside the mandate of the union. It should stick to union and labour issues.”

He called the resolution “one-sided” and said he planned to write to CUPW national president Deborah Bourque to ask her to oppose adoption of the resolution at CUPW’s national convention.

Levinson brought his concerns to Canadian Jewish Congress, which has been meeting with a number of Canadian unions and churches in a bid to moderate their statements on the Middle East.

Pointing to similar anti-Israel resolutions passed by the Canadian Union of Public Employee’s (CUPE) Ontario wing and a regional unit of the Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL), Congress CEO Bernie Farber said “CUPW is the latest labour body to contemplate a one-side anti-Israel resolution.

“Such unbalanced resolutions are not helpful nor in the best interests of the membership,” he said.

Large unions such as CUPW have members who try “to advance whatever agenda they have,” whether it be the environment, the Middle East or health and safety issues.

Farber noted that CUPE National and the OFL were both faced with anti-Israel resolutions from locals and neither entertained the motions at their conventions. As well, the United Church of Canada, at its summer session, rejected a biased resolution for one that was more balanced, he said.

Gerry Deveau, national director for the Ontario region of CUPW, said, “I understand that from looking at the resolution alone, it may appear to be lopsided. But if you look at [the union’s] other policies, they don’t talk about Palestine, but they do talk about terrorism and peace.

“We’re saying Israel is assembling the wall and it’s causing social, economic and medical hardship to the people in the area.

“If you look at our constitution as a whole, while this looks like it’s one-sided for Palestine, we’re not saying that Israel doesn’t have the right to self determination,” he said.

Deveau said there were no CUPW resolutions advocating Israeli self-determination, adding, “I don’t think anybody on the national executive board would disagree with that.”

Farber said Congress hopes to meet with CUPW’s national officers and ask that any union resolution passed in April be “balanced and fair. CUPE National understood that message and took it to heart. So did the OFL.”

1 comment:

  1. As Israel is constantly accused of Apartheid, they may as well implement it fo real.

    As long as Apartheid was in place, South Africa was a flourishing, wealthy and safe country. As soon as Apartheid was abolished, it went down the drain. Holdups and shootouts in broad daylight are the order of the day, people and businesses move out while the criminals creep everywhere.

    So a little apartheid would do a lot of good for Israel. Maybe they should do a population exchange with Canada - send Palestininas to Canada, and Canadian Jews to Israel - not bad!

    ReplyDelete

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