International Solidarity

Like our National Union, Local 3906’s commitment to workers and social justice is not restricted to Hamilton, or even to Canada. We support, and stand in solidarity with, workers across the globe. Many of our members are from abroad and we work with them to support initiatives that are local to wherever it is that they call home.

Given our budget and the cost of direct and on the ground support, much of the international solidarity work is writing letters of support and participating in online campaigns. Here are some recent examples:

  • The CUPE 3906 executive extends its utmost solidarity with the people of Palestine, who have been collectively resisting against Israeli settler-colonialism and apartheid since 1948. Read our full Statement on Sheikh Jarrah and the West Bank
  • The executive committee of CUPE Local 3906 stands in solidarity with Boğaziçi workers who are fighting for their right to democratically elect their university president! They’re facing police violence and arrests but their resistance is growing, and we are proud to stand with them! #BogaziciDireniyor CUPE 3906 Boğaziçi solidarity letter
  • We provided a donation to organizations supporting striking agricultural workers in India who took to the streets following the passage of a draconian piece of legislation. These workers argued that the new laws were passed by the government without consultation, had exposed them to the mercy of large corporations for crop prices, and put them at greater risk of poverty and losing their land. **UPDATE- The law has been repealed**
  • On November 8, 2020, a young activist by the name of Amar Fayaz was abducted by what appear to
    be paramilitary security forces in Pakistan. Accompanying this letter, we also donated $500 to Pakistan Trade Union Solidarity- Fayaz solidarity letter Dec 2020
  • The CUPE 3906 executive stands firm against the Ford government’s recent adoption of the
    International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance Working Definition of Antisemitism (IHRA-WDA)  CUPE 3906 Bill 168 Palestine statement Nov 2020
  • We want justice for George Floyd. We want justice for Breonna Taylor. We want justice for Tony McDade. We
    want justice for Regis Korchinski-Paquet. We want justice for Eishia Hudson, Jason Collins, and Stewart Kevin
    Andrews, three Indigenous people murdered by Winnipeg police over the course of just ten days back in April.
    And we believe that justice for them is not simply a matter of individual cops being held to account, but the kind of deep systemic transformation required to prevent these atrocities, which now seem like an almost daily
    occurrence. CUPE 3906 Letter on Anti-Black Racism
  • CUPE 3906 condemns invasion of northern Syria by the government of Turkey. Turkish armed forces have been
    bombarding Kurdish regions in northern Syria since October 9th, causing many civilian casualties and
    displacements.  CUPE 3906 Statement Northern Syria
  • We are deeply concerned about the disappearance of several youth and labour activists in Karachi who attended a peaceful protest in support of the Pashtun movement Pakistani Unionists letter May 2018
  • Letter of support for striking University and College Union academic workers in Britain- UCU solidarity letter Mar 2018
  • Let us then be absolutely clear: we condemn, in no uncertain terms, the white supremacist and white
    nationalist groups, the fascists, the Ku Klux Klan, and the neo-Nazis who marched on Charlottesville as well as
    the racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, Islamophobic, anti-Semitic, and anti-immigrant ideologies that
    fueled that march – and the murderous violence that followed it – and that continue to fuel the activities of these groups, both in the United States and here in Canada. 3906.Statement.Charlottesville

 

International Solidarity