UPS workers in Minneapolis expressed support for a city-wide general strike on Friday, January 23, to force the withdrawal of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) paramilitary forces from the city and secure the prosecution of those responsible for the killing of Minneapolis resident Renée Nicole Good.

Workers spoke to WSWS reporters at the UPS distribution/sorting facility in Minneapolis Wednesday afternoon amid escalating opposition to the Trump administration’s militarized occupation of the city. Federal immigration agents, backed by Department of Homeland Security (DHS) tactical units, have already arrested more than 3,000 residents in sweeping operations that have targeted entire neighborhoods, workplaces and schools. The repression has provoked weeks of protests, high school walkouts and community demonstrations across Minnesota.

In response, a coalition of unions and community organizations called for a city-wide “day of action” on Friday, urging residents to participate in “no work, no school, no shopping.” Workers interpreted the call as a general strike to use the power of the working class to shut down economic activity and oppose state repression.

However, the trade union apparatus has moved swiftly to suppress any independent action by workers. Teamsters Local 638, which has over 5,000 members in Minnesota and North Dakota, circulated a letter warning members that participation in a work stoppage would violate their labor agreements with the corporate bosses. “The collective bargaining agreement that applies to you includes a no-strike provision, so you are not legally permitted to strike,” the statement declared.

UPS workers spoke with WSWS reporters, sharply criticizing both the federal crackdown and the efforts by union officials to block collective action.

“We are not doing anything on Friday. It’s a general strike,” one worker said. “No work, no school, no shopping. If we can shut the economy down, that’s the goal. No ICE. Get out. That’s the only thing that’ll do it. Workers got to take the power. It’s ours to take.

“The union official I spoke to said they can’t support it because it’s a work stoppage, so it doesn’t sound like Teamsters are backing us up,” he said.

Asked if he thought workers should demand the calling of a mass membership meeting so rank-and-file workers could decide what course of action they should take, the worker replied, “Absolutely.”

“We’re now realizing what black and brown people have dealt with their entire lives for generations. We’re being attacked now, just like everybody else was, and it’s enlightening. We’re just numbers and dollars to them. We have the power to shut this city down.”

As workers spoke out, the Trump administration was preparing to escalate the repression still further. The Pentagon has issued a prepare-to-deploy order for active-duty military police soldiers based at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. At least several hundred troops from an Army military police brigade are being readied for possible deployment to Minneapolis.

This follows orders issued last Friday to mobilize 1,500 soldiers from the Army’s 11th Airborne Division, a unit stationed in Alaska that specializes in winter warfare conditions—an unmistakable signal of preparations for sustained domestic military operations.

A veteran UPS driver denounced the occupation of the city and the broader implications for democratic rights.

It’s ridiculous. They’re not following the laws of due process. We need big changes in this country right now, and this is not making America great at all. So, people need to wake up and pay attention, turn off American Idol. People around the world are looking at us, and they’re not, they’re laughing. It’s disgusting. A lot of my friends who know history are thinking this is very Naziesque, Hitleresque. People are waking up and I hope it’s not too late.

As a kid, I remember, how Swedish immigrants were mistreated. This type of thing has been going on forever. But, somehow, we figured it out. Now, this clown [Trump] is doing it again.

I know people who are immigrants, who are here legally, some for 30 years and I thought to myself, “Oh, my God, I hope they have their passports.” You never thought you would live in a country where someone would demand, “Show me your papers.” When people forget history, it has a way of repeating itself. If it’s not coming to work on certain days or something else, people need to do their part because we can’t remain silent.

Reports from the corporate media have confirmed the lawless character of ICE operations. The Wall Street Journal reported that agents are receiving bonuses tied to the number of arrests they make, creating financial incentives for mass roundups regardless of legal status. The Associated Press revealed the existence of an internal memo authorizing ICE agents to enter private residences without a judicial warrant.

While the Teamsters bureaucracy insists that workers must uphold the no-strike clause they agreed to, Trump has no such respect for the law. On January 16, a federal judge in Minnesota issued a temporary restraining order banning federal agents from using tear gas or retaliating, arresting or detaining those engaged in peaceful protests. Trump’s paramilitary forces totally ignored the order, and on Wednesday an appeal judge overturned the order after Trump officials argued it was interfering with their “law enforcement” operations.

Videos released Wednesday showed senior Border Patrol official, Gregory Bovino, throwing tear gas at residents at close range, while other agents pinned a community member filming ICE activities and sprayed gas directly into his face from less than a foot away.

Another UPS inside worker spoke bluntly: “ICE needs to get the hell out of this city. Donald Trump needs to be locked up, and the key thrown away. Kristi Noem needs to be tried for murder. The entire Homeland Security is a fraudulent joke. Get out of our state, ICE.”

Asked about the Teamsters’ opposition to strike action, he said, “Frankly I don’t agree with the Teamster leadership, I’m not a fan of Sean O’Brien. He’s turned his back on the Teamsters and doesn’t care. He’s a big backer of Trump. I said two years ago during our contract negotiations that he wasn’t for us, that we were going to get screwed on this contract. And we did get screwed in 2023. O’Brien doesn’t care about anybody but making his pocket richer. Now, UPS is cutting thousands of jobs.”

The anger expressed by workers is rooted in concrete experience. The Teamsters’ sellout of the 2023 national UPS contract paved the way for mass layoffs and restructuring. In 2025 alone, UPS eliminated roughly 48,000 jobs. This year, another 20,000 job cuts are expected as United Parcel Service accelerates plans to close nearly 200 facilities through 2028, consolidating smaller operations into massive, highly automated regional hubs. These changes are being imposed to boost profits and productivity, while workers, with the complicity of the Teamsters bureaucracy, pay the price through job losses, speedup and intensified exploitation.

Responding to the bipartisan backing for repression, including the Congressional Democrats support for a bill that would provide $10 billion to ICE, the worker added, “That’s why I’m not for either one of these parties. I’m all for workers and everybody uniting against this corrupt administration.”

The administration is doubling down politically as well as militarily. Vice President JD Vance is scheduled to visit Minneapolis on Thursday to deliver remarks “focused on restoring law and order in Minnesota” and to meet with ICE agents, demonstrating the White House’s “unwavering support for federal immigration officials.”

A young UPS worker denounced the killing of Renée Nicole Good, the 37-year-old mother.

“I think ICE should be out of Minnesota and Trump is horrible,” she said, adding, “What that [agent] did to Renée was terrible.”

Another young worker emphasized the unity developing across communities:

America, it’s a country for all people. It’s not just one race or the other. There’s reason, we got so many people in Minnesota banding together and standing and fighting for our Mexicans, Latinos, Muslims, all those people, you know? It’s what’s just, in my opinion.

He continued:

At the end of the day, ICE has to get out of Minnesota, by whatever it means that takes. They’re killing people. They’re taking citizens as well. At first it seemed like they were strictly racially profiling people. But then it was Renée Good. They murdered her for no reason, and it’s just really messed up. A general strike would be great.

Asked about the Teamsters’ claim that striking is illegal, he replied, “Trump doesn’t care about the laws. He was forced to release the Epstein files more than a month ago, and he still hasn’t done that. It seems they’re above the law at this point which is just insane.

Another inside worker concluded, “Minneapolis is my hometown, and we’re supposed to be loving community, not fighting, not killing, nothing like that. So, these ICE guys are not welcome at all. They need to go and never come back. … I believe in the strike.”

The growing militancy among UPS workers underscores a central lesson of the unfolding struggle: The defense of democratic rights cannot be entrusted to the pro-corporate union bureaucracy or either of the two big business parties. What is required is the independent mobilization of the working class.

UPS and other workers must form rank-and-file committees, independent of the union apparatus, to democratically determine their own course of action, link up with workers across Minneapolis and nationally, and wield the enormous social power of the working class, not only on Friday, January 23, but in a sustained struggle against repression, layoffs and dictatorship.