One day after Doug Ford urged the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Ontario to get rid of Fred Hahn, union officials fired back, calling the premier’s comments “revolting and unacceptable.”
Ford called Hahn a “bully” and a “disgusting human being” after he shared a post on his Facebook account earlier this month that’s been called antisemitic by disillusioned Jewish union members.
The post, which has since been deleted, depicted a Jewish Olympic diver with a Star of David on his arm jumping off a diving board. As he’s heading towards the water he transforms into a bomb that explodes on innocent civilians below.
Hahn has since posted an apology, saying he “deeply” regretted sharing it, but maintaining it wasn’t an indictment of Jewish people.
“I’m getting messages on my phone from CUPE members saying his comments have been disgusting. In my opinion, he’s a disgusting human being anyways,” said Ford while also encouraging CUPE Canada to discipline Hahn and members to vote him out at the next possible chance.
On Thursday, CUPE said its decision to ask for Hahn’s resignation has nothing to do with Ford’s attack and that the premier should focus on issues within his government.
“We do not take advice from a union-hating, public service-gutting Premier trying to distract from his own scandals and track record,” read the union’s statement. “Doug Ford and his ministers can concentrate on re-opening the rural ERs they have closed, funding the public schools they continue to neglect, addressing their Greenbelt scandal, and reversing their decision to give public land in Toronto to a private mega-spa no one wants.”
The union went on to say that the decision to ask for Hahn’s resignation does not negate his “lifelong commitment to CUPE members and union activism.”
“To suggest that asking for Fred’s resignation as a (General Vice President) is to throw in with those who support the genocide in Gaza, or is in response to a conservative Premier’s bullying, is frankly ludicrous.”