A labour board has dismissed a complaint against the largest Canadian union that it failed to speak up for Jewish members amid pro-Palestine protests, according to Blacklock’s Reporter. “The Federal Public Sector Labour Relations Act does not contain any rules about a bargaining agent’s political activity,” said Public Sector Labour Relations and Employment Board (PSLREB) adjudicator Christopher Rootham in a ruling.“My role is limited to enforcing the Act.”Rootham said internal affairs of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) were not the PSLREB’s business. A Jewish PSAC member filed a complaint accusing its executives of “discriminating against me in public.” The member cited public statements by PSAC following the killings and abductions of Jews in Israel during the Hamas attacks in October. Additionally, she expressed concerns it failed to name Hamas as a terrorist organization, does not condemn terrorism or call for a return of Israeli hostages and appeared ambiguous over who was to blame for the attacks. With these allegations, Rootham said they were not a matter for the PSLREB. “The Board does not have the jurisdiction to hear this complaint,” he said.“The duty of fair representation extends to how a bargaining agent represents employees only when the subject of the representation falls under the Act.”PSAC has called for a ceasefire in Gaza multiple times and donated $50,000 to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency and Palestinian Red Crescent Society in November. “Canada must call for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza,” it said. “As the death toll continues to mount in Gaza, PSAC continues to call for an immediate ceasefire and push Canada to take a stronger role in ending the occupation of Palestine.”However, it said it “stands firmly against antisemitism.”“We condemn the horrific attack and killing of civilians by Hamas in southern Israel,” it said. Jewish Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) members initiated a human rights complaint against their union in November, alleging discrimination and antisemitism, including recent messages seen as cheering for the Hamas attacks in Israel. READ MORE: Jewish CUPE members file lawsuit against union over antisemitism allegations“The respondents have collectively engaged in systemic discrimination against the complainants by promoting and engaging in antisemitism,” said Levitt Sheikh LLP partner Kathryn Marshall. “This has caused the complainants to feel isolated, unwelcome, scared, silenced, discriminated against, threatened and harassed.”
