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.