The CUPE 1281 Executive Committee has sent the following solidarity letter to the ITF Staff Union.

We, CUPE 1281, a union representing union, non-profit, and social justice staff mostly in Ontario, Canada, want to express our unwavering solidarity with the ITF Staff Union as you resist escalating attacks on your job security and the growing wave of managerialism inside the ITF.

It is deeply hypocritical for an organization that claims to defend workers’ rights worldwide to undermine its own staff, erode union protections, and impose top-down control. The same leaders promoting labour solidarity and democracy abroad are silencing the very workers who keep their organization running.

We know this pattern of behaviour all too well. Many CUPE 1281 members are staff at various unions which call themselves progressive, yet engage in anti-union actions and rhetoric quite similar to what you are facing- despite an ocean separating us. One of our units, consisting of staff at the York University Faculty Association, is currently fighting off restructuring, increased managerial control, attacks on job security, workplace protections against harassment and discrimination, and union rights at the bargaining table. The circumstances may differ, but the pattern is the same: more management power, fewer worker rights, and silenced staff voices. We support your fight just as we support everywhere workers fight back — through solidarity and defending union principles.

We also recognize the severe toll this process has taken on ITF staff mental health. Constant uncertainty, the threat of job losses, and increased workloads come at a real human cost. No worker should face that kind of pressure — least of all in a labour organization built to champion workers’ rights. If the ITF claims financial distress, they must open their books. Workers deserve full transparency — not vague excuses to justify restructuring and erode rights.

When unions are undermined from within, the entire labour movement suffers. Your fight is not only for ITF staff — it’s for every worker the world over who believes in fairness, dignity, and the right to organize without fear or retaliation.
Stay strong. We see you, we are with you, and we will amplify your fight.

In solidarity,

Sam DeFranco, President
On behalf of CUPE 1281