On 21 March 1960, in the township of Sharpeville, South Africa, police opened fire on a crowd of Black demonstrators who had taken to the streets to protest racial segregation in apartheid South Africa. The police murdered 69 peaceful demonstrators and injured 180 others, including some 50 women and children. This atrocity became widely known…
February 1 marks the beginning of Black History Month, a month in which we celebrate Black excellence while also reflecting upon the difficult and often violent conditions that surround this excellence. We celebrate the contributions that people of African and Caribbean heritage have made to Canada and the labour movement in spite of tremendous obstacles.…
Today, CUPE Ontario joins people around the world in celebrating International Human Rights Day. Seventy-three years ago today, on December 10, 1948, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), a document that set the foundation for universal basic human rights. From its inception, the UDHR was a…
For about an hour during the afternoon of November 24 at Hamilton’s J.C. Beemer Park, police officers violently attacked allies of its unhoused residents who were encamped there. Two Black youth were punched in the face, another dragged through the grass; officers planted their knees on necks, and employed chokeholds. “Don’t let them say it…
One hundred and eighty-seven years ago today, on 1 August 1834, the Slavery Abolition Act took effect marking the legal end slavery across the British Empire. The Act emancipated over 800,000 enslaved Africans across the Caribbean and South America. As educator and historian Natasha L. Henry notes, many enslaved Africans in British North America received…
TORONTO, ON – What seems like a deliberate workforce policy of exploiting racialized women as cheap labour by the University Health Network (UHN) is being roundly criticized by many Toronto/GTA labour and community groups advocating for economic justice for new immigrants. UHN is avoiding the direct employment of patient rehabilitation care staff at its Hillcrest…
TORONTO, ON – Entering Step 3 early is a testament to the contributions of front-line workers but the Ford Conservatives are still failing to ensure safety and a recovery for all, says the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Ontario. “Front-line workers kept us as safe as possible during this pandemic, with members of CUPE…
TORONTO, ON – Ontario’s Ministry of Labour is leaving front-line workers out of the new Workforce Recovery Advisory Committee and it must immediately stop its work until it’s fully inclusive, says the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Ontario in a written letter to Minister Monte McNaughton. “The committee is comprised solely of business owners,…
TORONTO, ON – The stay-at-home order is yet another sign of the Conservative Government’s deep political failure during this pandemic, says the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Ontario. “Every single expert makes it clear that the people contracting COVID-19 in this third wave are essential front-line workers and members of racialized communities,” said Fred…
The International Day for the Elimination of Racism commemorates the murder of 69 peaceful demonstrators by the South African police on March 21, 1960. The victims of the atrocity were protesting racial segregation that targeted Black and other racialized people in the apartheid state. But racist violence is not just a relic of the past,…
