Economic blackout planned to protest total ICE disaster in Minnesota

Unions in the Twin Cities are urging people not to work or shop on Friday and instead gather to protest President Donald Trump’s deportation campaign, a sign of the organized resistance emerges as immigration agents continue to conduct raids and confront protesters in Minnesota.

Labor groups hope a one-day economic blackout will increase protest participation and send a message to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement that the agency is not welcome in the Minneapolis area.

“Any union worth its salt has to step up and do everything they can about this,” said Kieran Knutson, president of Communications Workers of America Local 7250, one of several local labor groups backing the action.

The White House has spilled thousands of Department of Homeland Security agents to Minnesota in recent weeks, turning the state into ground zero for Trump’s immigration crackdown. Protesters have taken to the streets daily to protest the administration’s decision. tough tacticsincluding the murder of Renée Gooda 37-year-old mother of three who was shot by an ICE agent while in her car earlier this month.

ICE raids have increased citizens and non-citizens alikeand Minneapolis union leaders say officers have been harassing service and construction workers for weeks as they travel to and from their jobs.

“It’s just a complete disaster for our members’ families, for our community and for our union.”

– Greg Namcher, President, Seiu Local

At least 20 members of Service Employees International Union Local 26 have been “detained or kidnapped” over the past month, said Greg Nammacher, the union’s president.

“It’s just a complete disaster for our members’ families, for our community and for our union,” Nammacher said.

The union, which represents janitors, airport workers and commercial building cleaners, held a meeting after Good’s murder in which it asked members who would be willing to not work or shop on Jan. 23 to send a message. Almost everyone raised their hand, Nammacher said.

“The response has been overwhelming,” he said. “We are very sad to have to do this, but it also gives us hope to see how much of the community is stepping up.”

The protest, classified as “day of truth and freedom“- started with just a handful of unions and religious groups. But it quickly gained broad support and has the support of the Minneapolis Regional Labor Federation, a group that represents area unions. Dozens of businesses are already preparing to close for the day, and many restaurants are already hanging signs in their windows, union leaders said.

“I’ve been very impressed to see how many employers understand that this is an important moment of unity,” Namacher said, noting that small businesses are tired of their employees being harassed and their regular customers staying home out of fear.

via News

Workers employed under collective bargaining agreements generally cannot strike while the agreements are in effect, so unions have been urging their members to take the day off in a manner consistent with their contracts. Organizers also asked that there be no classes on Friday. (Minneapolis Public Schools are already scheduled to close for a record-keeping day.)

Chelsie Glaubitz Gabiou, president of the local labor federation, noted that many workers will not feel comfortable demonstrating in the streets due to the presence of ICE. An afternoon march is planned near the Vikings’ US Bank Stadium, although the weather forecast suggests people will have to brave freezing temperatures.

“We have been collectively mobilized in the streets and in some ways that has not been enough,” said Glaubitz Gabiou. “Therefore, we must call for an even greater mass mobilization to invite people who are on the sidelines and who have a stake in this to be part of the solutions to get ICE out of Minnesota.”

Glaubitz Gabiou said she is disappointed by the business community’s relative silence in the face of the immigration raids, likely out of fear of angering the Trump administration. After a local Hampton Inn hotel apparently canceled reservations for ICE agents out of principle, the Department of Homeland Security publicly attacked Hilton Hotels on social media, prompting the hotel giant to cut ties with its franchisee.

ICE’s focus on Minnesota will cause a significant impact to the local economy, as businesses are losing workers and foot traffic, Glaubitz Gabiou said.

“The amount of damage that is being done now is not going to go away when they leave,” he said of ICE. “Minneapolis’ road to recovery will be long.”

The administration claims that the deportations will increase wages for native workers, but most union leaders and many economists predict that the opposite will happen.

“Any union worth its salt has to step up and do everything it can about this.”

– Kieran Knutson, President, Communications Workers of America Local 7250

Nammacher said the climate of fear is making it much more difficult so that workers who have been exploited face unscrupulous employers. He shared the story of a non-union janitor who went ahead to report wage theft and help workers recover hundreds of thousands of dollars in back pay, only to be detained by immigration officials late last year. The worker is now in deportation proceedings.

“All that does is reduce the wages and working conditions of workers here in the United States, whether they were born here or abroad,” he said.

Like local elected leaders, organizers of Friday’s protest are urging people to demonstrate peacefully. Instead of de-escalating the situation in Minnesota, Trump has threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act and send in the military, and about 1,500 active-duty Army soldiers are now expecting for deployment.

Knutson described the federal presence in Minneapolis as an attack on “our own dignity.”

“Working-class people are being terrorized every day in the Twin Cities,” he said. “But working class people are also facing [ICE] all over Minnesota. “That’s what gives me heart.”