Teachers union declares war on Target: Randi Weingarten launches back-to-school boycott over ICE

BS BULLETIN:

Randi Weingarten’s American Federation of Teachers is urging its 1.875 million members and families to skip Target during back-to-school shopping.
The reason: Target won’t condemn ICE operations in Minnesota.
Critics want federal scrutiny because AFT members’ pension funds also hold billions in Target stock.

Apparently the American Federation of Teachers has added a new subject to the back-to-school curriculum: corporate foreign policy.

AFT President Randi Weingarten is promoting a nationwide campaign urging the union’s nearly 1.9 million members, their families and allies to avoid Target during the crucial back-to-school shopping season because the Minnesota-based retailer hasn’t gone far enough in denouncing Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

“We gave Target ample time to stand with the communities in which they operate and help their neighbors, but its silence about federal immigration abuses has been deafening,” Weingarten said. The union launched its “Shop Smart, Not Target” campaign last week, complete with a website directing teachers and families toward thousands of alternative stores.

And AFT isn’t merely suggesting that teachers pick up their pencils somewhere else. The union’s official resolution says members should continue avoiding Target “until Target is willing to stand with the Twin Cities.”

The campaign follows months of pressure. Weingarten wrote Target CEO Michael Fiddelke in February demanding that the company publicly call for ICE to leave Minnesota. She followed up in March, warning that if Target didn’t respond satisfactorily, AFT would encourage its members to shop elsewhere.

Target apparently failed the union’s political purity test. Now the boycott is on.

But, here’s the rub, AFT itself says its members spend an average of $895 of their own money annually on school supplies and that union members participate in pension funds holding billions of dollars worth of Target stock.

That’s right. The union is encouraging members to stop spending money at a company in which their retirement funds may simultaneously be invested.

Heritage Foundation education researcher Corey DeAngelis argues that combination deserves scrutiny and has raised questions about whether union pension influence is being used to advance political objectives.

Missouri Republican Sen. Eric Schmitt had already asked the Labor Department in July to investigate whether AFT leaders coordinated with retirement-plan fiduciaries to use pension assets for political purposes.

AFT, meanwhile, openly made the shareholder argument itself earlier this year. “Our members are not only workers and consumers, they are long-term investors with a profound stake in Target’s future,” Weingarten said in February. The union argued Target’s failure to condemn ICE could damage the retailer’s brand and therefore threaten shareholder value.

Then there’s the reason for the boycott itself. AFT accuses ICE agents of “terrorizing families” and describes federal immigration enforcement in Minnesota as an “occupation.” DHS emphatically rejects that characterization. An ICE spokesperson told Fox News that agents enforce federal immigration law and aren’t targeting schools or children. “This is just another false narrative to try and demonize our brave ICE law enforcement,” the spokesperson said.

DHS also says ICE officers are facing a 1,300% increase in assaults and an 8,000% increase in death threats.

The union isn’t backing down. Its campaign website recommends local retailers and union-friendly alternatives, even suggesting Costco for teachers who prefer shopping online.

Which means somewhere in America right now, a teacher who just wanted a box of dry-erase markers has inadvertently wandered into a national argument over immigration enforcement, corporate governance, pension investments and Donald Trump.

Welcome back to school.

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