WHEREAS, throughout 2026 the AFT and community organizations have sought to engage with Target in support of both the Minnesota community’s calls for Target to take a stance on immigration enforcement, and civil rights and faith groups’ calls to recommit to civil rights measures; and
WHEREAS, on March 11, members of the civil rights and faith communities announced that they had reached a partial resolution with Target on issues related to diversity and Black-owned business investment; and
WHEREAS, following the March 11 resolution between the civil rights and faith communities and Target, the AFT and the Minnesota community shifted their demands; and
WHEREAS, the new leadership of Target, by ceding to most of the demands of the faith and civil rights communities, has shown that it wants to chart a new course, yet it refuses to show that same openness when it comes to calling for an end to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s occupation of the Twin Cities; and
WHEREAS, Target will not stand up for the community in which it is headquartered; and
WHEREAS, ICE is still ravaging communities across the country, including the Twin Cities; and
WHEREAS, ICE agents murdered American Federation of Government Employees member Alex Jeffrey Pretti in January 2026, in addition to committing other violent brutality documented across the Twin Cities; and
WHEREAS, state labor federations and the AFL-CIO have called upon ICE to leave both their own states and Minnesota; and
WHEREAS, the local economies of our cities and towns are suffering at the hands of federal policies that do not support workers and local businesses; and
WHEREAS, teachers alone spend, on average, $895 per year on school-related supplies alone, which totals $3.4 billion just in out-of-pocket classroom spending; and
WHEREAS, the back-to-school shopping season is an important time of year for retailers like Target; and
WHEREAS, organizations, small businesses and individuals are standing up to the current threats against our democracy, and Target continues to remain silent on these threats; and
WHEREAS, the 15 million members of the AFL-CIO collectively represent an economic force that has the proven potential to alter corporate behavior as workers, parents and family members:
RESOLVED, that the AFL-CIO adopts the AFT and the Minnesota community’s boycott of Target; and
RESOLVED, that the AFL-CIO and its member national unions, state federations and central labor councils will educate their members about the AFT’s Target boycott; and
RESOLVED, that the AFL-CIO will call on parents, communities and other allies to
join us in this campaign to shop local—and to not shop at Target for back-to-school and other school-related supplies—until Target is willing to stand with the Twin Cities, including educators, healthcare workers, public employees, and the students and patients they serve, and publicly call for ICE to stop aggressive enforcement and occupation in Minnesota as well as signing on to the Business for Democracy Pledge to protect our democracy.