The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Ontario is challenging the politically motivated firing of York Region paramedic and CUPE member Katherine Grzejszczak.
On June 20, the Regional Municipality of York terminated Grzejszczak’s employment over a Facebook post criticizing Israel’s military attacks on Palestine, Yemen, Lebanon, Syria and Iran.
Grzejszczak has been a paramedic with York Region Paramedic Services since 2010 and was previously the president of her union local.
In the post that precipitated her termination, Grzejszczak thanked CUPE Ontario and the Toronto & York Region Labour Council for encouraging union members to join a demonstration against Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza, Iran, and neighbouring countries. CUPE Ontario co-sponsored the June 22 rally at the United States Consulate in Toronto, alongside the United Steelworkers, Labour 4 Palestine (L4P) and other labour and community organizations.
CUPE Ontario president Fred Hahn spoke with Class Struggle about Grzejszczak’s termination.
Because the union has filed a labour board complaint against the employer over Grzejszczak’s firing, she was not able to speak publicly.
“Here is a worker who was elected by her colleagues to help lead her union. She was entrusted to do so, and she is making a comment in support of something her union was doing, which complied with a resolution passed by members, saying ‘we would be opposed to war with Iran and are opposed to the genocide in Gaza,’” Hahn said, referring to the union’s support for the Toronto demonstration.
Grzejszczak is also an elected member of the executive board of CUPE Ontario.
“Katherine spoke against genocide and war, and spoke in favour of our union’s efforts to stand against genocide and war,” Hahn said.
In her post, Grzejszczak wrote: “They [Israel] have been occupying Palestine for 75+ years. They are luring starving Palestinian children to their concentration camp food aid depots so they can snipe them dead. They keep murdering workers – media, healthcare, municipal – they just murdered 15 first responders, including 7 paramedics. Any union or other organization that doesn’t fight this is choosing to stay silent during genocide.”
Israel has opened fire on Gazans queuing for food aid on multiple occasions. As of July 2, at least 600 Palestinians have been killed and 4,200 wounded by Israeli fire at food distribution sites.
It appears that Grzejszczak’s termination was influenced by local politicians.
In a Facebook post, City of Vaughan councillor Gila Martow suggests that she was involved in Grzejszczak’s firing. Martow wrote that Vaughan Mayor Steven Del Duca contacted York Region’s chair, that “the matter was investigated” and that “we have received confirmation that the individual is no longer employed by York Region.”
As Hahn pointed out in the union’s June 30 press release, elected officials are not supposed to be involved in the personnel decisions of public sector employers.
“Who would have imagined we would be in days where anyone who calls for peace, who calls for an end to a genocide might be accused of doing something wrong, let alone have their employment threatened … It is a completely wrongheaded decision that needs to be reversed,” Hahn told Class Struggle.
Hahn has faced attacks from Israel supporters and Ontario politicians over his support for Palestine. In August 2024, Ontario Premier Doug Ford, following calls from CIJA and Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center, tried to pressure CUPE National into removing Hahn from his elected position in the provincial union body over a social media post calling for Israel to be banned from the Olympics. A range of labour and peace organizations came to Hahn’s defence.
“There are those who are always saying: ‘Why do you always want to talk about Gaza? What about the other conflicts in the world?’ Our union is quite comprehensively involved around the globe, with supporting efforts, supporting workers, and organizing for justice. But there is no other country in the world, it seems to me, than the State of Israel that has been able to continually violate international law, seemingly without impunity. And yet, when anyone calls attention to this glaring reality, somehow, that is the problem,” Hahn recounted.
L4P has an active petition demanding Grzejszczak’s reinstatement. As L4P mentions, this is not the first time that Grzejszczak has been attacked for her solidarity with Palestine. In April 2024, supporters of Israel attempted to have CUPE remove Grzejszczak from her position as Local 4900 president for wearing a keffiyeh and displaying a Palestinian flag sticker on her laptop. CUPE ignored this demand.
At the time of writing, L4P’s campaign has sent more than 22,000 letters to York Region Paramedic Services.
Others outside the labour movement have also come to Grzejszczak’s defence. The Centre for Free Expression has issued an open letter addressed to York Region Paramedic Services and the Regional Municipality of York expressing “deep concern” that the dismissal violates Grzejszczak’s Charter right to free expression.
As Hahn pointed out, being a union member provides Grzejszczak with protections and access to support that non-union workers facing similar retaliation from employers don’t have. “It is good that Katherine is in a union. [CUPE Ontario] will do our best to defend her. But there are lots of workers who are not in unions. There are lots of other people who have had their employment threatened and or removed as a result of their stance against a genocide. That is deeply problematic.”
Davide Mastracci
Hahn also made clear that allowing Grzejszczak’s firing to stand could embolden politicians to attack workers and union leaders who publicly speak out against Israel’s ongoing genocide. “Attempts to limit the speech of union leaders won’t stop here. They’ll only start here,” he said.
“Political leaders have a huge amount of control over what happens with unions, as much as we might not like to admit it. We talk very clearly with our members, for example, about the reality that we can have a very good collective agreement. We can have bargained it. We can have stewards to defend it in every workplace. Everything can be good. But with a swipe of a pen a politician can try to remove our rights,” Hahn warned.
“It’s why politics matters. Political speech matters whether you are a private sector worker, whether you are a public sector worker, whether you are a worker in a union, whether you are a worker who’s not in a union. Governments have a huge sway over the lives of all of us, and our ability to critique that and to organize for something better is essential for all of us,” he concluded.
It will take solidarity and co-ordinated action to win Grzejszczak’s reinstatement and send a message that attacking supporters of Palestine in the labour movement won’t stand.
As Hahn concluded: “I’ve been fortunate to spend a bunch of my working life in the labour movement, and what I’ve come to understand is something that trade unionists know: Solidarity is literally everything we have. It is the foundation, the lifeblood, the very thing that makes our movement possible.”
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