Bloomington, MN – On April 25 and 26, Education Minnesota (EdMN) held its annual convention in Bloomington, Minnesota. Hundreds of teachers, paraprofessionals and aspiring and retired educators gathered for the union’s annual convention, which included more than 600 elected delegates. At the convention, the delegates elected their governing board, voted for constitution and bylaw amendments, and decided on action items put forward by EdMN’s 84,000 members. They also elected EdMN’s first Black president, Monica Byron.

With the Trump administration’s attacks on public education, bargaining rights and immigrant communities, this convention held an air of resistance to the policies of an increasingly oppressive government. A great sense of unity and collective support was widely felt as educators spoke about and made plans for how to stand together and fight back against the attacks.

One of the most popular action items was put forward by members of Minneapolis Federation of Educators Local 59 (MFE) and was a proposal for EdMN to establish a new investigative task force with regards to member pension investments.

The text of this resolution called for the creation of “…a task force to investigate the investment of Education MN member pensions in violation of human rights and civil liberties; as well as its involvement in the desecration of cultural and ethnic identities, war, illegal occupation, land theft and military conflicts.” This task force would compile this information and publish a report of its findings within six months for its members and also would “…host a member meeting to discuss the results of the task force investigation…to explore strategies to bring investments into congruence with humanitarian values and humanitarian law.”

Additionally, the new task force would deliver a letter to the Minnesota State Board of Investment (SBI), which manages Minnesota’s public sector workers’ pension funds and has become a primary target for a new wave of working-class activism in opposition to Israeli apartheid. Many public sector union pensions currently are invested in funds with ties to Israel. This letter would detail “the investments that violate human rights, civil liberties, cultural and ethnic identities, and [that] contribute to war, illegal occupation, land theft and military conflicts.” Finally, this letter, along with supporting information sent to the SBI would “…advocate for divestment” from identified investments, companies, or government bonds made by the SBI.”

This proposal was briefly discussed amongst the membership of EdMN, with many members of the Minneapolis Federation of Educators (MFE) speaking passionately in support.

MFE member Abir Ismail spoke in support of the proposal, “As public school educators, we should have clear ethical guidelines for how our pensions are invested. The investment of our pensions should align with international law and our shared values. We cannot stay silent and say they live thousands of miles away, when our pensions are being used to fund the massacre of children in Gaza, instead of being invested in the future of our own students and communities. Our pensions have contributed to the deaths of thousands of children – children who have been burned alive, dismembered, their body parts scattered among the ruins of what used to be classrooms, playgrounds, and homes. Children who dreamed of becoming doctors, artists, teachers – erased from this earth with the help of our money.” Ismail continued, “What does it say about our values when our pensions contribute to the suffering of children? Where is our humanity? How can we witness these atrocities and still sleep at night?”

The MFE member who introduced and spoke for the proposal received a raucous round of applause from the hundreds of union members in the room. Outgoing president Denise Specht sternly reminded members not to cheer or clap for those speaking in favor or opposition to action items during the meeting, per convention rules. This was the only instance of this reminder being necessary throughout the convention.

Other members who spoke in favor made connections between the oppression and genocide of Palestinian people and the historic and ongoing wave of anti-immigrant rhetoric and violence in America. They focused on the use of Gaza and Palestinians as a testing ground for the technologies which are then used to militarize the southern border of the U.S., as well as databases used to track and monitor immigrants and their families which mirror those the Israeli military uses to track Palestinians. Speakers pointed out the hypocrisy of working people employed in education in America being committed to the wellbeing and education of children only to see their pensions and tax dollars be invested in companies which create weapons used to kill tens of thousands of children in Palestine, Lebanon, Yemen and Syria.

Many EdMN members at the convention were wore keffiyehs and the high level of support in the room for the resolution showed new momentum in the decades long fight for divestment. The motion to create the task force was approved nearly unanimously. Supporters of the motion and those involved in Palestinian solidarity work within their respective unions also shared flyers about the MN Anti-War Committee and their DivestMN website, which lays out which kinds of investments could be affected by this proposal.

#BloomingtonMN #MN #AntiWarMovement #Palestine #EdMN #MFE

St. Paul, MN — Over 7000 people took to the streets from the Minnesota State Capitol, May 1, to commemorate International Workers Day 2025. Attendees of the protest rallied and marched for over three hours in rainy weather to demand an end to attacks on immigrants and workers, to fight Trump’s billionaire agenda, and for legalization for all.

The event was organized by a coalition made up of the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC), Minnesota Workers United (MWU), Minnesota Immigrant Movement (MIM), and Asamblea de Derechos Civiles (Asamblea). It was endorsed by over 50 local community organizations and unions, including the Minnesota AFL-CIO, Minneapolis Federation of Educators, SEIU local 26, Freedom Road Socialist Organization, Indigenous Protectors Movement, Minnesota 8, and MN Anti-War Committee.

Beto Villanueva of MIRAC stated, “Immigrants are essential. We contribute to the economy. We help keep this country alive. And we’ve been doing it while being targeted more and paid less – while being disrespected and undervalued. The systems are built to divide us. They want workers to blame immigrants. They want to pit trans people and women against each other. They want poor folks to fight poorer folks. It’s all a game to divide us. But we see through that. We stand together.”

Sara Nelson, the international president of the Association of Flight Attendants CWA, AFL-CIO spoke to the long fight for workers’ rights. She said, “100 years ago workers didn’t have legal rights, they organized and built them through solidarity.” She also stated that we must stand together, “No one is born with racism, sexism or bigotry in their heart. These are the tactics from the boss to keep us from exercising our power and gaining our fair share.”

Rachel Dionne-Thunder of the Indigenous Protector Movement grounded protesters by saying, “Today is a reminder of the power of the people. These borders crossed us, we did not cross these borders. This country is built on an illusion of power, but the true power is with the people. Now is the time to say enough is enough!”

Marcia Howard of the Minnesota Federation of Teachers Local 59 spoke in strong support of immigrant students and colleagues. She urged listeners to stand up in solidarity, saying: “I need you to think about your neighbor. The immigrants we are talking about are your neighbors. They are your coworkers. They are your students’ classmates. I need you to pick a side and if you’re standing here, you better not be on the side of any billionaire.”

During the rainy march, the crowd was energized by a group of young people. The middle schoolers, who organized a walkout at their school, led chants like “No one is illegal, all power to the people!”

At a time when anti-immigrant rhetoric is rampant, the people of Minnesota stood up to send a clear message that they stand united in solidarity with workers and immigrants across the country.

#StPaulMN #MN #Labor #ImmigrantsRights #MIRAC #AFACWA #MWU #MIM #Asamblea #MFE #SEIU