Canadian union boycotts Zionists

Canadian union boycotts Zionists

Tehran, May 29 - The Ontario wing of Canada's largest union has voted to
join an international boycott campaign against the Zionist regime "until
that state recognizes the Palestinian right to self-determination."

Sid Ryan, the Canadian Union of Public Employees Ontario president, said 896
members voted unanimously at its convention in Ottawa on Saturday to support
the campaign.

Ryan asserted that the move is not an attack on Jewish people, but only an
objection to the regime's policies on Palestinians.

Under the resolution approved by delegates, the union -- which represents
more than 200,000 workers -- will also develop an education campaign about
the issue, according to a press release. The statement condemned the
colonial West Bank barrier erected by the usurper regime.

"The Israeli apartheid wall has been condemned and determined illegal under
international law," the release reads.

In a reference to boycotts, it also notes, "Canada has a free trade
agreement with Israel, the only such agreement this country has outside of
the Western hemisphere."

Katherine Nastovski, chair of the CUPE Ontario international solidarity
committee, is quoted in the release as saying taht Boycott, divestment and
sanction worked to end apartheid in South Africa.

"We believe the same strategy will work to enforce the rights of Palestinian
people, including the right of refugees to return to their homes and
properties."

Mr. Ryan said the global campaign started last July and has been supported
by 170 organizations around the world. "It's a human rights issue," he said.

CUPE Ontario's next step, he said, is to try to get other unions such as the
Ontario Federation of Labour and the Canadian Labour Congress to join the
campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions.

In recent years, CUPE Ontario has called for the end of the Zionist regime's
aggression and a withdrawal from the 1967 occupied territories. The
executive of the Canadian Labour Congress issued a resolution in 2002
comparing Palestinians in the occupied territories to blacks living under
apartheid in South Africa.

http://www.iribnews.ir/Full_en.asp?news_id=214304&n=34


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