As we commemorate the 75^th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the 2023 theme for the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on March 21 focuses on the urgency of combatting racism and racial discrimination.

From the intensified inequalities experienced by Indigenous, Black and racialized workers and communities during the ongoing pandemic and now the growing affordability crisis, to the ongoing activism denouncing the crisis of police brutality and over-policing, much more remains to be done in our society to end injustice. We must speak up and take action!

Unequal access and underinvestment in public services, employment disparity and precarious employment, unequal living conditions and growing unaffordability of essential needs, a lack of public and affordable housing by governments, and an economy that places profit before people shows the urgency to join together united in solidarity to dismantle systemic racism – and to demand a more just and equitable future.

Unions play a vital role in bringing workers together in solidarity to fight for fairness – working to break down economic and social inequalities, advocating for improved access to public services, taking action to defend workers’ rights and human rights, and standing together to confront hate, fear, and discrimination in all its forms. This work continues in the knowledge that all of us have an individual and collective role in ending racism and championing human rights, understanding that together in solidarity we can make lasting structural change in our society that ends systemic racism and builds a more just society.

CUPE’s Anti-Racism Strategy identifies actions to challenge systemic racism in our workplaces, union, and communities. It acknowledges that our union and locals must work towards meaningful and attainable change for Black, Indigenous and racialized members, including those with intersecting identities.

Racism only divides us. As union members, we know that in solidarity there is strength.

#FightRacism #StandUp4HumanRights

The General Assembly of the UN proclaimed March 21 the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination by resolution adopted in 1966. The day commemorates the incident on March 21 in 1960 when police opened fire and killed 69 people and wounded 180 others while they were peacefully demonstrating against apartheid “pass laws” in the township of Sharpeville, South Africa (view the United Nations video about Sharpeville) . Unions were at the heart of the anti-apartheid movement, and unions such as CUPE remain dedicated to being at the heart of the fight against racism.

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