Established in 2013, UNIFOR is one of Canada’s largest trade unions, representing some 300,000 workers across the country in the auto and energy sectors.
While officially purporting to work towards advancing the cause of members, including “the right to a good job and the benefits of economic progress,” UNIFOR has fallen into the trap of becoming an extremist and fringe anti-Israel group, regardless of the interests of its members.
In a letter dated June 25 and addressed to Prime Minister Mark Carney, and signed by Lana Payne, the union’s national president, the letter entitled: “Unifor letter to Prime Minister Carney Re: Urgent Canadian intervention to end the genocide in Palestine,” dived head-first into some of the most outlandish and extremist disinformation possible.
The letter repeatedly issued the unfounded and dangerous blood libel of “genocide,” a term that effectively claims Jerusalem is seeking to exterminate Gaza, and offered exactly no evidence to that end. In fact, such allegations have been thoroughly debunked by actual subject matter experts, rather than Payne, who possesses no such expertise whatsoever.
Payne’s ignorance about the Middle East clearly did not prevent her from claiming that there is an “aid blockade” on Gaza, apparently unaware that each day, huge amounts of humanitarian aid enter the territory, including food, medicine, and even units of blood. Payne quoted a group of United Nations “experts” who claim that Gaza is “one of the most ostentatious and merciless manifestations of the desecration of human life and dignity,” a description both comical and pitiful given how the enclave is home to bustling dessert establishments, brand-new smartphones on sale, and well-stocked vegetable markets.
Only someone truly ignorant of what is transpiring in Gaza, or otherwise grossly dishonest about this reality, could promote such disinformation.
Payne’s letter demanded that Canada do its part to cease “exporting arms to Israel,” a clear call for Jerusalem to be stripped of any ability to defend itself from genocidal Islamic terrorist groups like Hamas and to free the hostages held by such regimes. But the UNIFOR letter made zero mention of the dozens of Israeli hostages still being held in Gaza for nearly 21 months, nor the genocidal attack by Hamas on October 7, 2023 which precipitated the entire war, and has guaranteed its continuance since then.
In fact, the UNIFOR letter signed by Payne is akin to complaining about the pain from stitches, even though those stitches are the result of life-saving surgery after a brutal assault. But rather than blaming the assaulter, the letter is attacking the doctor instead. The letter is not just ignorant, but malicious and a direct contravention of the promise it makes to its members.
Like other unions such as the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE Ontario) and the The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), who have similarly jettisoned interest of members in pursuit of a radical agenda, Payne’s letter purports to speak on behalf of the group’s large membership base, though it offers no evidence that its members have any such concerns.
UNIFOR is a union that is widely and regularly cited in the Canadian news media on issues related to labour rights and related issues. Its leader, Lana Payne, was listed on the Maclean’s ‘Power List’ in 2024, and is often quoted as well.
When Fred Hahn, the leader of CUPE Ontario, engaged in hateful anti-Israel and anti-Jewish hate speech, he was widely condemned by politicians, news media outlets and even the leadership of his own union, which called for his ouster (though he refused to listen). In this case, with the leader of one of Canada’s largest unions spreading vile Hamas-adjacent propaganda, will the Canadian news media hold UNIFOR and Lana Payne accountable?
