Greetings to the Workers Assembly (Minneapolis)
We print below the greetings to the Workers Assembly in Minneapolis, Minnesota on 16 February 2026 by Yari Milo Michel, one of several supporters of Class Struggle Education Workers who traveled there for the event. They also were able to meet with educators who have played an active role in the mass resistance against the occupation of the Twin Cities by the murderous masked immigrant hunters of ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) and the Border Patrol.
Hello everyone, good evening.
My name is Yari Milo Michel, I am an immigrant ENL [English as a new language] teacher in the New York City public schools, I’m also a delegate in the United Federation of Teachers. I’m not here speaking on behalf of the union but, you know, we like to get things done. I’m also with the Class Struggle Education Workers, the Labor Committee to Defend Immigrants and, at my school, the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Committee to Defend Immigrants, because we have one.
So, I’m extremely happy to be here and to observe this meeting, because the resistance, the courage and the determination in Minneapolis against ICE terror is an inspiration, as I’m sure you all know, to all of us and all defenders of immigrants across the country. And this is especially true for the Committee to Defend Immigrants at my school which consists of teachers, paras, parents, cafeteria workers, who do daily dismissal monitoring, patrolling the streets to make sure that our students are safe from ICE, because they have been spotted in our neighborhood.
So, in New York City the formation of these committees to defend immigrants was made possible by a resolution that I put forward to create such committees, so that we can do the work, make sure that our students have the information, and that our staff members are well-armed to protect our school communities. Those committees to defend immigrants were also able to come out on, guess what date? [crowd: January 23rd] yes, were able to come out on the 23rd, also because of a resolution that I put forward demanding that we have an emergency demonstration in solidarity with Minneapolis, against the murder of Renee Nicole Good [applause]. I am very happy to say that that passed by 90%.
So, ICE terror has already hit New York City, but it’s likely that the next of these surges will be New York. And I think that it’s extremely important that we prepare and that we know what our obstacles are. That means fighting for a real general strike, so I was happy to hear a lot of those comments here. But that also means coming up against the political questions, and that means freeing the labor movement from the subjugation to the Democratic Party [applause]. That includes coming up against no strike-clauses in our contracts [applause], and also coming up against a little something in New York called the Taylor Law, which prohibits public sector workers from being allowed to go on strike. I think we should break that, do you? [crowd: yes!]
So as a union delegate, and also as a member of the Class Struggle Education Workers, we call for the formation of a class struggle workers party for labor to come out and unchain its powers. This sort of thing can only really be formed by struggling against the union bureaucracy, which chains the unions to the Democrats. And it is our task as class-conscious workers and activists in this fight to defend immigrants and to liberate all of the oppressed, because, guess what, it’s not going to happen by going to the polls [applause]. I thank everyone here for letting me deliver this message, revolutionary greetings, class-struggle greetings from New York City, and we want to work with the educators here. If we do come together from New York to Minneapolis and across all the cities, we will win.
Class Struggle Education Workers is an organization, fraternally linked to the Internationalist Group, of union and non-unionized activists in all aspects of education fighting for a revitalization and transformation of the labor movement into an instrument for the emancipation of the working class and the oppressed. See the CSEW program here. The struggle for students’ and educators’ rights, and mobilization against the genocidal war on the Palestinians continues. If you are interested in joining these efforts, contact the CSEW at cs_edworkers@hotmail.com. ■