‘We will be your human shields’: Why unions are showing up in force to support the U of T pro-Palestinian protest encampment
‘We will be your human shields’: Why unions are showing up in force to support the U of T pro-Palestinian protest encampment
With tensions stretching to their limit, representatives of workers have thrown their hat into the ring, pledging to support the student protesters till the end.
On Monday, union leaders from across Ontario descended on the University of Toronto campus, vowing to physically defend the students.
“Our job is to put our bodies in between you and whatever the administration brings to you,” JP Hornick, president, Ontario Public Service Employees’ Union (OPSEU), told a rally by the protesters and their allies. “If the police come, we will be your human shields. We will be your line of defence. And I promise you that we will be here for as long as it takes to make sure that you are safe.”
Laura Walton, president of the Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL), pledged not only her union membership in defence of the protesters, but her own maternal instinct.
On Saturday, in response to the university’s trespassing notice, the OFL’s Walton issued a call to all unions to support the encampment, and on Monday she was joined by four past and present union leaders, including Sid Ryan, former head of CUPE; Fred Hahn, current president of CUPE; and Carolyn Egan, president, United Steelworkers (USW) Toronto Area Council.
Walton said that, in her mind, support for the protesters is undeniably linked to labour issues. “If the university administrators can get away with trampling on your rights to protest and dismissing your legitimate demands, then employers everywhere will feel emboldened to do the same,” she said.
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