“My organizing and activism centres anti-racism and anti-oppression frameworks and is rooted in a deep belief that we cannot build a successful social movement without challenging our own perspectives and privilege.”

JP Hornick (they/them) was first elected President of OPSEU/SEFPO in 2022 and re-elected in April 2024. JP represents more than 180,000 public sector workers in Ontario. For more than two decades, JP has been on the forefront of worker-led movements. Before being elected President, they spent years building and leading OPSEU/SEFPO’s College Faculty Division, leading a province-wide strike in 2017 and another round of bargaining in 2021. Combining their skills as an educator with their deep ties to the labour and social justice communities, JP organizes toward not only a freer, more just future, but a better today.

JP has spent a lifetime as an activist – learning from and supporting movements for anti-racism and decolonization and for women’s and queer rights, and their deep understanding of the link between the personal and political is foregrounded in their labour organizing. To be truly transformative, solidarity must transcend the boundaries and borders of our workplaces, and JP is not afraid of the difficult conversations and good trouble needed to build diverse, intergenerational movements.

Whether on the picket line, a solidarity action or at the bargaining table, JP understands that the fight for workers’ rights is a struggle, not a sanctuary. They are committed to building a stronger and sustainable movement in which every single worker feels welcome. When it comes to bargaining, JP believes that it is critical to engage all our members and to build super-majorities that allow us to fight back against right-wing governments and employers. They are proud of the ongoing transformation within OPSEU/SEFPO where members have repeatedly taken on bad bosses and the conservative Ford government – and won!