Megan L, Minneapolis, MN
The politicized atmosphere in Minnesota has taken over even the most unlikely of places—rooms full of gray cubicles.
I work at a large multinational company headquartered in the Twin Cities. I often discuss politics with my coworkers, but since the shooting of Renee Good, my workplace has buzzing with political discussion, even from people who have never discussed politics at work.
Many of my coworkers are upset that our company’s policy is to let ICE in the building first and validate that they have a judicial warrant once they’re inside. Letting a bunch of guys with guns into the building is understandably not a popular decision, especially when handed down by people who don’t even work in the building!
My coworkers and I agree that we should decide how we handle ICE raids. We are feeling an instinctual proletarian urge for worker’s control.
My manager and I talk politics semi-regularly, and he is a self-described anarchist. Last week, I submitted PTO for January 23 and told my boss that some of the unions had called for a day action and I would be taking time off in solidarity.
Today, he told me he realized why I took time off, and then told me that I shouldn’t work or take PTO because Friday was a “general strike,” and strikers don’t take PTO!
This may be coming from my boss, but in a large company like this, the lowest-level supervisors often share the same class interests as those they manage, even if they may be part of a more privileged layer of the working class. I think this goes to show that all layers of the working class in Minneapolis are being drawn into the struggle against ICE, with growing interest in class-struggle methods.