On Friday, January 23, 2023, our Minnesota union siblings–including the St. Paul Federation of Educators (AFT) and the Minneapolis Regional Labor Federation, AFL-CIO–along with activists and community members have called a General Strike, “A Day of Truth and Freedom.” Today, Jan. 20th, your UC-AFT Council, the highest decision-making body in our union, voted unanimously to pass a resolution pledging our solidarity to their strike. The full text of the resolution appears below.
Friday promises to be a day of national solidarity among U.S. unions and we encourage all UC-AFT members to show their support by participating in economic boycotts, rallies, marches, teach-ins, donations to Minnesota-based and national strike funds, and any other action that adds pressure in the fight against ICE. At this time, we are not aware of planned actions on UC campuses, but that is likely to change over the next few days.
UC-AFT members–in both Unit 17 and Unit 18–cannot legally withhold our labor on January 23. We are required by our collective bargaining agreements to perform our contractual obligations and duties as librarians and faculty members.
However, on Friday, January 23 UC-AFT members can:
- join picket lines, rallies, or marches when we are not working
- wear our union t-shirts or buttons to work that day in solidarity
- express our support for workers on social media
- choose to not attend or participate in other campus activities (seminars, talks, optional department meetings, etc.) outside of our assigned duties that day
- Donate to the Minnesota Labor Federation strike funds.
Now is the time for all of us to stand together and fight for our collective civil rights, and for the social and racial justice that every person deserves.
RESOLUTION (Passed 1/20)
UC-AFT Local 1474 Solidarity with Striking MN Workers on January 23, 2026
Whereas, it has been over 225 days since federal immigration authorities began their siege in Los Angeles; and
Whereas, ICE has expanded its geographical scope of kidnapping and terrorizing California’s people from LA to the Bay Area and to many communities in between; and
Whereas, thousands of our neighbors and family members across California–along with our colleagues, our students, and others from our campus communities–have been kidnapped and brutalized; and
Whereas, many UC-AFT members are living with the fear, anxiety, and rage that stem from being targeted themselves; and
Whereas, the terror ICE has been inflicting on Black and Brown people and multiple Asian migrant and refugee communities is not new, either in California, or in any U.S. state; and
Whereas, ICE raids in our streets are an escalation of the institutionalized oppression of civil rights that BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, and disabled people have experienced for decades, including within the University of California; and
Whereas, we recognize that many of our students and colleagues have never felt safe on our campuses; and
Whereas, the people of Minnesota are fighting back against the same illegal, violent attacks we’re experiencing in California; and
Whereas, our Minnesota union siblings–including the St. Paul Federation of Educators (AFT) and the Minneapolis Regional Labor Federation, AFL-CIO–along with activists and community members have called a General Strike, “A Day of Truth and Freedom,” on Friday, January 23, 2026;
Therefore, UC-AFT Local 1474 stands in solidarity with and fully supports the Minneapolis General Strike; and
Therefore, UC-AFT will take every legal action we are able to on January 23, 2026 in order to support this strike, including participation in economic boycotts, rallies, marches, teach-ins, donations to Minnesota-based and national strike funds, and any other action that adds pressure in the fight against ICE; and
Therefore, be it resolved that UC-AFT will stand up now against ICE to fight for our collective civil rights, and for the social and racial justice that every person deserves.
