IFO Supports POCI Caucus Police Reform Legislation

The IFO, after consulting with Black members of our Faculty of Color Caucus, supports the People of Color and Indigenous (POCI) Caucus slate of legislation around police reform in response to the murder of George Floyd. The IFO encourages both the Minnesota House and Senate to pass this legislation and for Governor Walz to sign it. The IFO encourages our members to contact your legislators to express your support for the POCI Caucus slate of police reform legislation. The lives of our Black faculty and students matter and deserve significant reform at this important moment in history.

A summary of the relevant bills can be found here.

Resources:

  • Scaffolded Anti-Racist Resources — A working document of resources for white people, ordered to facilitate their growth to become allies, and eventually accomplices for anti-racist work (updated June 12, 2020).

IFO Statement: Labor's Responsibility to fight for Working People

The IFO demands justice for George Floyd and all marginalized people who have been victimized by the Minneapolis Police Department. We welcome the Minnesota Department of Human Rights investigation into the pattern of racial discrimination in the Minneapolis Police Department and hope that it will include an examination of the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis (“POFM”). We reject the POFM leadership’s perversion of union principles to protect members who perpetuate white supremacy and racist violence against the Minneapolis community. The IFO Board endorses the AFL-CIO's call for POFM Presdient Bob Kroll to resign.

The labor movement is borne of the fight for all working people, especially those who alone have no power. We stand in solidarity with those traditionally marginalized workers in our community and in our own ranks, striving to facilitate their empowerment. We recognize that racism is systemic and undercuts the collective power that unions can marshal to serve the collective good of our members and our communities.

The IFO is committed to using this opportunity to examine ourselves as a union and as people in the labor movement, to call out racism where we see it, and to strive for meaningful structural change that will endure. At the same time, we will fight to uphold those foundational tools of our labor movement, such as collective bargaining and due process, which protect workers who are otherwise defenseless. These tools have never been intended to undermine accountability of workers to perform their jobs, and certainly have never been intended to protect abuse of police power.

Racism and white supremacy have no place in the labor movement. We stand in solidarity with those who are demanding justice and lasting structural transformation.

IFO Board votes to Endorse Statement from AFL-CIO

The IFO Board has voted to endorse the following statement from the Minnesota AFL-CIO calling for the resignation of Bob Kroll, President of the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis.

Minnesota AFL-CIO President Bill McCarthy issued the following statement calling on Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis President Bob Kroll to immediately resign:

Minneapolis Police Union President, Bob Kroll, has failed the Labor Movement and the residents of Minneapolis. Bob Kroll has a long history of bigoted remarks and complaints of violence made against him. As union President, he antagonizes and disparages members of the Black community. He advocates for military-style police tactics making communities less safe and the police force more deadly. Despite his conduct, Kroll was reelected with an overwhelming majority. If Bob Kroll does not value the lives that he is sworn to protect, then we can only expect more death under his leadership.

Now, instead of seeking meaningful dialogue or reform to make sure what happened to George Floyd never happens again, Bob Kroll is trying to justify this senseless killing and have the officers involved reinstated. Unions exist to protect workers who have been wronged, not to keep violent people in police ranks. All four police officers involved in George Floyd’s murder must be charged.

Today, Americans have witnessed the disastrous outcomes of unchecked power, authoritarianism, and white supremacy in our highest levels of leadership. We have seen Bob Kroll proudly stand behind this type of leadership. Kroll is no friend to working Minnesotans and should be the last person entrusted to enforce the law or protect our residents.

All working people deserve a voice on the job, the freedom to organize, and the right to due process. As unions, we also have a duty to be transparent to the public, accountable to our members and stakeholders, and always seek justice. Under Bob Kroll’s leadership, the Minneapolis Police union has failed in this duty.

The affiliated unions of the Minnesota AFL-CIO are committed to seeking economic, social, and racial justice for all working people – no matter what we look like or where we come from. There is no room for white supremacists in our movement. The Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis is not, nor has it ever been a member of the Minnesota AFL-CIO. Bob Kroll and those who have enabled violence and brutality to grow within police ranks do not speak for us.

The Labor Movement is rooted in the fight for justice. Bob Kroll’s actions and the ongoing lack of accountability in the Minneapolis Police union are not just. Bob Kroll must resign, and the Minneapolis Police Union must be overhauled. Unions must never be a tool to shield perpetrators from justice.

We join in solidarity with our fellow Minnesotans who are marching in the streets demanding justice for George Floyd. We join in solidarity with Black residents who have seen too many deaths at the hands of the Minneapolis Police Department, but find no accountability, no justice, and no meaningful steps to make sure these events never happen again. Their cries for justice cannot go unheard.