AFT calls on educators, families to avoid Target during back-to-school season

August 27, 2026 by

As back-to-school shopping season ramps up, the American Federation of Teachers is urging educators and families nationwide to stock up on supplies someplace other than Target.

The union’s “Shop Smart, Support Working Families” campaign is a response to Target’s refusal to condemn the unlawful Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity that continues to roil communities around the country – a position the union called “starkly accommodationist.”

The nation’s largest labor federation, the AFL-CIO, endorsed the boycott in June at its constitutional convention in Minneapolis.

AFT encourages supporters to find alternate retailers that respect labor rights at ShopSmart.AFT.org.

Additionally, United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1189 maintains a list of union retailers in the East Metro at ufcw1189.org/shop-union.

The AFT, with 1.875 million members nationwide, rolled out its boycott this month after the union’s attempts at dialogue with Target leadership “did not receive a constructive response.”

Educators spend an average of $895 of their own money on school supplies each year, and union pension funds hold billions in Target stock.

In March, the union passed a resolution demanding the Minneapolis-based business speak up against the ICE atrocities in its own backyard. AFT President Randi Weingarten wrote to Target CEO Michael Fiddelke in January and again in March.

“We gave Target ample time to stand with the communities in which they operate and help their neighbors, but its silence about federal immigration abuses has been deafening,” Weingarten said. “We wrote letters, passed resolutions and reached out to management in good faith but have yet to see any meaningful movement.”

Twin Cities union leaders praised AFT for holding Target accountable.

“We’re disappointed that Target has failed to live up to its promises to be a good neighbor to the families who have shopped there for years,” Natasha Dockter, a vice president of the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers, said. “In this scary time, we all need to come together, from the classrooms to the corner offices, to protect Americans’ right to free speech and to ensure our democracy endures.”

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Boycott of REI’s anniversary sale begins today

May 15, 2026 by

Over 70,000 REI Co-op members have pledged to boycott the outdoors retailer’s anniversary sale, which runs today through May 25, in a show of solidarity with workers at 11 unionized stores across the country, including one in Maple Grove.

REI Union members voted in March to authorize a boycott of the co-op’s largest event of the year and immediately began appealing to shoppers for support. (Take the boycott pledge.)

Workers say the boycott is a response to REI’s decision in February to declare bargaining at an impasse and implement the economic terms of its last, best and final offer, which over 98% of union members voted down in January.

The imposed terms cut benefits, starting wages and raises for many union members. The REI Union’s bargaining team, which brings together members of the Retail, Wholesale and Depart-ment Store Union (RWDSU) and six United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) locals, have called the move union-busting – and illegal.

Jacob Lish, a sales specialist at the Maple Grove store who represents UFCW Local 663 on the nationwide bargaining team, noted that REI implemented only the punitive economic terms of its final offer, not tentative agreements reached earlier in talks that introduced new rights for union workers.

“It’s really important for us that REI hears that its members don’t support the union-busting they’ve been trying to do this whole time,” Lish said.

Union members are hoping the anniversary-event boycott delivers just that message.

In addition to co-opmembers who have taken the boycott pledge, the nation’s largest labor federation, the AFL-CIO, has endorsed the boycott, adding REI to its “do-not-buy” list.

“Their bottom (line) is what they care about at the bargaining table,” Lish said “Even our most modest asks are too expensive; they tell us they can’t afford it.

“So by asking members to withhold their money for those 15 days, we think, is really going to impact REI – and hopefully drive them back to the table to reach an agreement with us.”

Union negotiators say they were “within inches” of a tentative agreement with REI before talks broke down. Management, they say, refused to guarantee union members wages on the same level as their non-union peers – a poison pill designed to thwart future organizing.

More recently, REI has demanded union members accept non-disparagement language in their contracts that would prohibit speaking out publicly against the company.

“REI has refused to offer us a fair contract, despite our willingness to compromise, and instead has insisted on provisions that would prevent more workers from joining the REI Union and that would ban us from speaking out,” Alex Pollitt, a worker at the REI in Bellingham, Wash., said in a statement. “Their anti-union stance is deeply incompatible with the values REI claims to profess.”

In June 2023, REI workers in Maple Grove voted 22-4 in favor of joining UFCW Local 663. After the vote, workers said they looked forward to winning a contract that addressed the rising cost of living, ensured consistent and adequate hours and improved staffing in their store.

Maple Grove was the seventh REI location to unionize. Organizing has continued, with workers at a twelfth store, in San Diego, scheduled to vote in a union election May 27-28.

Despite its reputation as a progressive-friendly retailer, REI has dug deep into the union-avoidance playbook since workers in New York unionized the first store in March 2022.

But the approach has not gone unnoticed by the co-op’s members.

When the REI union campaigned last year to elect two labor-friendly environmental leaders to the co-op’s board of directors, REI refused to put either on the ballot. The union then encouraged members to vote “no” on the co-op executives’ hand-picked candidates, who were running unopposed in the board election.

It worked, as over 115,000 members responded to the union’s appeal.

Two months later, REI agreed to establish a national bargaining structure with the union to settle contracts at its unionized stores – and to provide wage increases and bonuses that it had withheld from workers for the previous three years.

Now, REI members are being asked to deliver a similar message to executives by boycotting their co-op’s anniversary sale.

“We know REI really values themselves as a member co-op, or at least they say they do,” Lish said. “And we already know members support our goal of having some rights in the workplace and basic dignity as workers.

“With that really broad support from the membership, we think this boycott is going to be the most effective way to drive the response we are looking for.”

– Michael Moore, Union Advocate editor

Filed Under: Community, Organizing, Politics, Union Events Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Teamsters end beer strike, credit ‘labor solidarity’ for keeping them strong

May 25, 2018 by
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J.J. Taylor drivers Adrian Wiegert (L) and Mark Hennum picket outside the facility with other members of Teamsters Local 792.

Beer truck drivers and helpers at J.J. Taylor Distributing in Minneapolis voted overwhelmingly to ratify a new contract last night, ending their seven-week strike.

Not one member of Teamsters Local 792 crossed the picket line during the strike, and all 93 striking workers will return to their jobs, as the company was unable to hire permanent replacements.

“I can honestly say I’ve never been a part of a group that looks out for each other like we did,” Darin Bakken, a helper with five years of experience at J.J. Taylor, said. “This is a very strong group.”

Larry Yoswa, Local 792’s secretary-treasurer, attributed the unity to broad community support. Several bars, restaurants and liquor stores refused to accept deliveries from J.J. Taylor during the strike, and a list of beers distributed by the company went viral on the internet with the hashtag #ratscabbeer, prompting many consumers to buy different brands.

This week, workers began passing out the fliers to fans on their way into St. Paul Saints games.

“One of the beer vendors … stopped at the picket line,” Bakken said. “He said what we did outside was huge. There were a lot of people who took a peek at that list before he could pour a beer.”

But the biggest source of strength, Yoswa said, was labor solidarity.

“Labor in this state was what really helped us stay out so long,” he said. “The locals of Teamsters Joint Council 32 stepped up big time. We had the nurses out here, the postal workers, all of the trades — everybody saw the news and got out here.

“That’s what kept them solid for seven weeks, knowing they had that kind of support.”

Yoswa characterized the new contract as a “bittersweet victory” for workers, who took a stand for safety on the job. The two sides were able to reach a compromise on union members’ top priority, keeping two workers on keg-heavy routes.

Bakken, who has worked for 20 years in the beer industry, said the trend toward increasing workloads is a dangerous one. “You can’t have one guy all alone handling all the kegs day after day, year after year,” he said. “You’re going to get hurt, and your career is done.”

Now, workers are looking forward to seeing the people on their delivery route again – especially the ones who stood with Teamsters in the fight. McDonald’s Liquor and Wine in Minneapolis, one of the stops on Bakken’s route, had an empty cooler where the Miller Lite display usually goes.

“That’s pretty damn cool that they’re standing up for us,” he said.

[CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE FULL LIST OF BARS AND LIQUOR STORES THAT SUPPORTED TEAMSTERS IN THEIR STRIKE FOR SAFE JOBS.]

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Visit the Labor Pavilion at the Minnesota State Fair!

August 22, 2014 by
Ken Young of Sheet Metal Workers Local 10 puts the finishing touches on a copper rose at the Labor Pavilion on the Minnesota State Fairgrounds.

Ken Young of Sheet Metal Workers Local 10 puts the finishing touches on a copper rose at the Labor Pavilion on the Minnesota State Fairgrounds.

Heading to the great Minnesota get-together? Stop by the Labor Pavilion for live music and entertainment, interactive exhibits and several opportunities to take action in support of working Minnesotans.

The Labor Pavilion is open daily throughout the fair at the corner of Dan Patch and Cooper, 1657 Dan Patch Ave.

The Minnesota AFL-CIO coordinates daily programming at the pavilion, featuring professional entertainers who are members of the Twin Cities Musicians Union, the Screen Actors Guild and other unions. The Minnesota AFL-CIO’s Labor Pavilion blog provides a guide to programming.

Individual unions and labor organizations also host kiosks on the pavilion. Here’s a rundown of some of this year’s offerings:

• Trades demonstrations

Several Building Trades unions are putting their crafts on display at the Labor Pavilion. That includes members of Sheet Metal Workers Local 10, who craft copper sheets into roses – complete with prickly thorns – from their Labor Pavilion kiosk. The roses are awarded to fairgoers who answer a trivia question correctly.

Operating Engineers Local 49 hosts a “sandbox simulator,” offering kids (or adults) an opportunity to try their hand an excavator – on a much smaller scale, of course; and members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers power a laptop at their kiosk with a solar panel attached to the roof.

web.StateFair14-postal• Stop Staples

Twin Cities Letter Carriers and Postal Workers are co-hosting a kiosk to promote the nationwide boycott of Staples. All four postal unions have backed the “Stop Staples” campaign, prompted by the U.S. Postal Service’s pilot program to place service counters inside Staples stores.

The counters are not staffed by sworn USPS employees, but by Staples employees who, when working full time, earn about $18,000 per year – and receive minimal training on how to handle the mail.

At the Labor Pavilion kiosk, supporters can sign a postcard to Staples executives pledging to join the boycott. They also can read a heavily redacted copy of the agreement between the USPS and Staples.

Active and retired members of AFSCME Council 5 support transportation funding at the Fair: (L to R) Tony Peterson, Judy Schultz and Christine Main.

Active and retired members of AFSCME Council 5 support transportation funding at the Fair: (L to R) Tony Peterson, Judy Schultz and Christine Main.

• Moving Minnesota

Members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees are using the fair to make a public case for new investments in the state’s transportation infrastructure.

Visitors to AFSCME Council 5’s kiosk can sign up to support Move MN, a coalition of more than 200 non-profit and union organizations pushing for long-term, sustainable transportation investments, including roads, bridges, transit, bike and walk connections.

“Our infrastructure is in such bad shape,” Council 5 retiree Tony Peterson said. “We want a permanent solution for the whole state of Minnesota – not just another makeshift solution or quick-fix. We need lawmakers to act now to support Minnesota 20 years down the road.”

Jess Alexander demonstrates Working America's "scheduling puzzle."

Jess Alexander demonstrates Working America’s “scheduling puzzle.”

• The scheduling puzzle

Last year at the fair, unions and Working America, an organization for workers who do not have the benefit of a union on the job, used the State Fair to ramp up their successful campaign to raise Minnesota’s minimum wage. This year, Working America is making the transition to a new campaign to give more workers access to paid-sick days and fair scheduling.

“Raising the wage doesn’t help if you don’t get enough hours, or you don’t get paid on days when you’re not working because you’re sick,” said Jess Alexander, an organizer for Working America in Minnesota.

An interactive display at the Working America kiosk allows fairgoers to visualize their “scheduling puzzle” using blocks that represent time spent on work, family time, sleep, etc.

Linda Leighton, a descendent of one of the leaders of the 1934 Teamsters strike, is enlisting support for a historic monument in Minneapolis.

Linda Leighton, a descendent of one of the leaders of the 1934 Teamsters strike, is enlisting support for a historic monument in Minneapolis.

• Remembering Teamsters’ strike

The Remember 1934 Committee, which hosted an 80th anniversary commemoration of the historic Minneapolis Teamsters strike earlier this summer, is using the Labor Pavilion to continue its efforts to put a plaque on the site where two strikers were killed.

Linda Leighton, granddaughter of strike leader Ray Dunn, staffed the Remember 1934 kiosk on the opening day of the fair. She said the goal is to raise $5,000 to place a historic marker at 3rd Street and 6th Avenue North in Minneapolis.

• Patient safety campaign

Members of the Minnesota Nurses Association are enlisting supporters for their Safe Patient Standards campaign at the fair. Molly Henderson, a nurse at United Hospital in St. Paul, said unsafe staffing levels continue to threaten patient care at hospitals across the state.

“We’re here letting people know that this campaign isn’t really about us as nurses, it’s about you, as the public,” Henderson said. “It’s about caring for patients, keeping them safe. And we can’t do that if there isn’t the right number of nurses to care for the number of patients in the hospital.”

St. Paul Firefighter Dominic Novak, a member of Fire Fighters Local 21, demonstrates how not to put out a grease fire at the Labor Pavilion.

St. Paul Firefighter Dominic Novak, a member of Fire Fighters Local 21, demonstrates how not to put out a grease fire at the Labor Pavilion.

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Tom Sundly of Operating Engineers Local 49 gives Bloomington 10-year-old Tyler Kauffman a crash course in using the controls of a model excavator.

Filed Under: Politics Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Deal with Postal Service lands Staples on labor’s ‘Don’t Buy’ list

June 3, 2014 by
St. Paul Regional Labor Federation President Bobby Kasper speaks at the Stop Staples rally in Roseville.

St. Paul Regional Labor Federation President Bobby Kasper spoke at the Stop Staples rally in Roseville on a nationwide day of action April 24.

staples-dont-buyThe boycott of Staples is official. The AFL-CIO last Friday approved the American Postal Workers Union’s request to add the office-supply retailer to the national federation’s list of endorsed boycotts.

The APWU and other postal unions launched the “Stop Staples” campaign earlier this year, after the U.S. Postal Service announced plans to expand a pilot program placing service counters inside Staples stores.

The counters are not staffed by sworn USPS employees, but by Staples employees who, when working full time, earn about $18,000 per year – and receive little training on how to handle the mail.

Postal Workers, Letter Carriers and other union members at a rally outside Staples in Roseville, part of a nationwide day of action April 24, decried the pilot program as a privatization scheme that threatens both middle-class jobs and the security of the mail.

With the recently approved boycott, postal unions are taking the “Stop Staples” campaign to the next level.

“Our brothers and sisters in the labor movement are key allies in this struggle and we greatly appreciate their support,” APWU President Mark Dimondstein said. “The ‘Don’t Buy Staples’ campaign is an essential component of the movement to stop the dirty deal between the U.S. Postal Service and Staples.”

St. Paul Area APWU President Todd Elkerton said Staples is already feeling the heat.

“In the Boston Globe on May 21, in an article titled ‘Postal union targets Staples over mail service program,’ a Staples executive is quoted as saying that Staples is not interested in getting in the middle of a fight between the post office and its union,” Elkerton said. “It goes on to say this executive acknowledges that it could become a problem if more unions backed the postal workers.”

All four unions representing USPS workers – the APWU, the National Association of Letter Carriers, the National Postal Mail Handlers and the Rural Letter Carriers – have backed the “Stop Staples” campaign, and the AFL-CIO’s boycott will tap into the consumer power of 56 nationwide unions representing 12.5 million members.

Teachers, in particular, will play a key role in the boycott, Elkerton hoped. According to some estimates, about one-third of Staples’ revenue comes from the sale of school supplies.

The American Federation of Teachers, which represents 1.5 million teachers nationwide, is expected to consider a ‘Don’t Buy Staples’ resolution at its national convention in July.

“We greatly appreciate the expressions of solidarity from the teachers’ unions,” Elkerton said. “Educators and all union members will be key allies in this campaign.”

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St. Paul unions urged public boycott of ‘Nazi-made’ goods 75 years ago

December 1, 2013 by
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A cartoon from the Dec. 8, 1938 Advocate, entitled “Ajax defies the lightning,” reveals growing concerns about German aggression.

Three years before the attack on Pearl Harbor that drew the U.S. into World War II, American union members declared economic war on Nazi Germany.

Unions in St. Paul scrambled in December 1938 to coordinate a local boycott of German goods after American Federation of Labor President William Green, speaking to a nationwide audience on CBS Radio, called upon union members to “intensify their militant action against the Nazi dictatorship until its victimization of the Jews is terminated.”

In fact, German goods had been on the AFL’s boycott list since 1933. The Union Advocate, in its Dec. 8, 1938 issue, noted one of Hitler’s first acts after the Nazis seized power was to arrest and imprison labor leaders.

But Green’s speech on CBS ramped up efforts to build support for the boycott among the general public, and labor leaders in St. Paul heeded the call.

The St. Paul Trades and Labor Assembly named a committee to formulate plans and methods to make the boycott effective locally, The Advocate reported on Dec. 15.

“The action of the Assembly grew out of a resolution offered by Max Flushman calling attention to the vicious persecutions of Jews, Catholics, Masons and trade unions in Germany and seeking the co-operation of Labor in protesting the German atrocities.”

[The Union Advocate’s “This Month in the Archives” feature offers a look back at what the newspaper was reporting from 5 to 100 years ago. Our digital archives are online, searchable and free to anyone. Click here for access.]

100 Years Ago: Streetcar company draws rebuke

Want to operate your streetcars on public streets? Then you’re going to have to respect your workers’ rights.

That’s the standard labor unions in St. Paul asked elected officials to uphold in dealings with Twin City Rapid Transit after hearing reports the company was denying its workers living wages, reasonable hours and the right to organize.

The Dec. 19, 1913 edition of The Union Advocate reported the St. Paul Trades and Labor Assembly passed a resolution putting the streetcar company in labor’s crosshairs.

“The cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis have from time to time granted said corporation the use of their streets free of charge,” the resolution said. “Said company has, through its policy of preventing the organization of its employees, been able to pay the very cheapest wages, work its men long hours and grant them the poorest conditions.”

Unions called on lawmakers to refuse the company “any more favors or the use of any more streets” until the streetcar company ended its campaign to prevent workers from organizing for “such conditions as will enable them to better their condition and give their families greater opportunities for advancement and the enjoyment of a few of the good things of this world.”

50 Years Ago: Skill survey controversy

Chamber of Commerce groups on both sides of the Mississippi drew ridicule from organized labor in December 1963 for their refusal to endorse participation in a Twin Cities-wide employment-skills survey being conducted by the Minnesota Department of Employment Security.

The chambers argued participating in the survey might put businesses at risk of revealing sensitive information – an argument The Advocate called “unfounded” and “bordering on the preposterous” in a scathing Dec. 26 editorial.

“There are many special occupations in which the supply of workers is far short of meeting the demand,” The Advocate editorial argued. “And it is to find the answers to the questions of what skills are needed that the Twin Cities skill survey is being made.

“One Chamber of Commerce objection was that it opposed the study because it concentrated in the area of skilled and technical jobs, rather than unskilled jobs.

Has anyone heard of a great and growing demand for UNskilled workers? Does this objection by the Chamber make sense to you?”

10 Years Ago: ‘Do you hear what I hear?’

Walker Methodist Health Care Center was the Grinch, but members of Local 34 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees weren’t about to let management steal Christmas. They caroled outside the care center in December 2003 at the start of a five-year struggle waged by about 400 workers who voted for AFSCME recognition earlier that year. Workers finally won a contract in April 2008.

Pictured below are Local 34 members Cliff Robinson and Audrey Lennox, who, The Advocate reported, “were among those singing ‘Rudolph the Union Reindeer,’ ‘We Wish You a Union Christmas’ and other cleverly modified seasonal tunes.”

Cliff Robinson and Audrey Lennox sang "cleverly modified seasonal tunes” outside Walker Methodist in 2003.

Cliff Robinson and Audrey Lennox sang “cleverly modified seasonal tunes” outside Walker Methodist in 2003.

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Holiday baking? Be sure not to use Crystal Sugar!

November 29, 2012 by

This holiday season, your Christmas cookies will taste better knowing union-busting Crystal Sugar isn’t among the ingredients.

The Moorhead-based company has locked 1,300 union workers out of their jobs for 16 months, prompting the AFL-CIO to call a nationwide boycott.

The easiest way to avoid buying Crystal Sugar is to buy cane sugar, like the C&H brand, instead. For more on the boycott, go to www.boycottacs.com.

Locked-out workers, members of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers union, were scheduled to vote on the company’s contract offer for a fourth time  on Dec. 1.

Filed Under: Organizing Tagged With: , , , , ,

AFL-CIO calls consumer boycott of Crystal Sugar

October 24, 2012 by

It’s finally official: The AFL-CIO has endorsed a nationwide consumer boycott of American Crystal Sugar products in response to the company’s 15-month lockout of 1,300 workers at facilities in Iowa, Minnesota and North Dakota.

The boycott, which began Oct. 15,  is part of the broader labor movement’s continued support for locked-out members of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union at Crystal Sugar, where management has blocked workers from their jobs, denying them of their incomes and healthcare benefits.

In addition to bags of sugar labeled Crystal Sugar, the boycott extends to several brands that sell Crystal’s product under a different label, including “Market Pantry” sugar sold in Target stores. The easiest way to avoid buying Crystal Sugar is to buy cane sugar instead, like the C&H label.

Click here for more information about the boycott, and to sign a petition pledging your support.

The national labor movement endorses boycotts cautiously and only in instances of grave injustice, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka noted.

“The 12 million union families of the AFL-CIO are proud to stand with the courageous locked-out workers who are responsible for American Crystal Sugar’s profitability and previously strong reputation,” Trumka said. “As we saw with the lock out of the NFL referees, locking out skilled workers who do important, unglamorous work hurts not only the workers, but the bottom line. We hope that this boycott will encourage Crystal Sugar to finally respect its workers, who worked so hard every day to make Crystal Sugar a highly profitable industry leader.”

Trumka added that Crystal Sugar CEO Dave Berg, after rewarding himself with a 50 percent pay increase for his union workers’ productivity, has obviously “decided to try to break the workers’ union.”

Supporters are asked to call Berg at 218-236-4400 and let him know they are not buying Crystal Sugar products until he ends the lockout and bargains a fair contract with workers.

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