Editors Note: This story was originally published at Common Dreams.
“We are asking every single person, every family member, every teacher, every bus driver, every childcare worker, to come together, to be in community, to stand with one another.”
A broad coalition of Minneapolis labor unions and community organizations is calling for a general strike to take place next week with the goal of forcing federal immigration agents to leave their city.
According to a report by Workday Magazine, the groups announced their plans on Tuesday to create a day of “no work, no school, no shopping” on Friday, January 23.
JaNaé Bates Imari, representative of the church Camphor Memorial UMC, said that next Friday would be “a day when every single Minnesotan who loves this state—who loves the idea of truth and freedom—will refuse to work, shop, and go to school.”
“We are asking every single person, every family member, every teacher, every bus driver, every childcare worker, to come together, to be in community, to stand with one another,” Bates Imari added.
Abdikarim Khasim, a Minnesota rideshare driver, said the strike was necessary because “we are facing a tsunami of hate from our own federal government,” while also vowing that “we are going to overcome this.”
As reported by Payday Report on Tuesday, several local Minneapolis unions—including Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 1005, SEIU Local 26, UNITE HERE Local 17, CWA Local 7250, and St. Paul Federation of Educators Local 28—have lent their support to the strike.
Workday Magazine editor Sarah Lazare subsequently reported in a post on X that the Minneapolis Federation of Educators had also signed onto the effort.
In addition to the labor organizations, faith-based social justice group Faith in Minnesota has declared its support for the strike.
Charles Booker, a Democratic candidate for the US Senate in Kentucky, praised the organizations for showing solidarity in the face of a crackdown by federal agents.
“This is what it takes,” he wrote in a social media post. “It is time for the people to stand and take back our power. We need a general strike! Love and solidarity to our family in Minneapolis who are refusing to go along with a status quo… More of this!”
Thousands of demonstrators hit the streets to protest last weekend after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent Jonathan Ross fatally shot Minneapolis resident Renee Good.
In the days since Good’s killing, federal agents have been repeatedly captured on video brutally detaining anti-ICE demonstrators and assorted bystanders, including some who have been confirmed as US citizens.
Brad Reed is a staff writer for Common Dreams.
