Picket signs on the first day of the strike. Photo by David Pierini

By David Pierini, Editor

A group of Henry High School teachers has filed a formal complaint against Minneapolis Federation of Teachers President Greta Callahan for what they call “racialized harm” during the recent teachers’ strike.

The complaint sent to the union’s executive board on Friday also signals the group’s intent to initiate a recall campaign against Callahan.

The Henry teachers say they were ostracized by Callahan and other union members as they pressed union leaders on the status of contract language during negotiations that would protect young educators of color when layoffs loom.

This was a key demand when teachers voted to strike that was suddenly absent as the strike began, according to the Henry teachers. It was missing from signs printed by the union, left out of speeches at rallies and omitted from daily updates by the union.

As concerns grew, Henry teachers started a petition drive and said they were turned away by strike captains when they tried to gather signatures from colleagues at other picket sights to re-enforced the language as a key demand.

The grievance, a copy of which was obtained by North News, alleges Callahan “committed cruelties” towards Henry staff and BIPOC educators during the strike. The teachers say Callahan “deceived” members about how she negotiated for educators of color.

“Together we stand united in our calls for MFT59 membership to root out the practices of white supremacy plaguing these systems,” the complaint says. “White supremacy has and continues to anchor this union at the expense of educators of color and our beloved students of color.”

See the full complaint at the end of this story

While the final agreement included unprecedented commitments to recruit and retain educators of color, the strike lay bare complicated racial dynamics and blind spots common when white allies lead equity causes.

“I guess it is a victory, but there was a lot of harm done,” said Henry guidance counselor Alex Leonard. “We felt like we were between two predominantly white institutions that didn’t see us. We were just kind of invisible.”

Callahan told North News the union “certainly learned some lessons in communications” and called the anger and frustration “righteous, justified” but “misplaced.”

She said union communications before and during the strike consistently reflected the demand for enforceable retention language in the contract and that it was part of many media interviews, though not always published.

On late Friday, Callahan issued a statement in response to the formal complaint.

“We negotiated nation-leading language that was written into the contract and will endure. Our students and staff deserve more, and this has caused righteous anger in many people,” Callahan said. “The anger of these educators is symptomatic of larger issues, and although I feel it is misdirected, every member needs to be heard.

“My responsibility as president is to maintain the dignity of our members, even when mine is under attack. There are many efforts to divide our union, but it is imperative that we stay united in our efforts for safe and stable schools. I’m so proud of the leadership we built through our strike, and I welcome all good-faith conversations about how to make our union even stronger."

Rule hurts retention

In a district where a majority of the student body is BIPOC, educators of color make up about 1 percent of the teaching ranks. The district’s “last in, first out” seniority rule has made educators of color vulnerable to layoff.

Just before the strike, more than 50 teachers of color received notices they would be “excessed” as the district made cuts to deal with a projected budget deficit of $21 million for the next school year. “Excessed” teachers might be able to avoid layoff by applying for a vacancy in another school.

A memorandum of agreement (MOA) with a contractual commitment for exempting BIPOC teachers from layoff was drafted in late 2021 by union leaders as part of the list of demands. The MOA was an incentive to vote to strike, especially for teachers of color who had seen young colleagues be “excessed.”

“We supported all of the demands, but part of the reason we voted to strike was for retaining teachers of color,” Leonard said.

On March 8, the first day of the strike, official union signs included messaging for ESP wages, mental health supports, and class-size caps, but no mention of the educators of color MOA, Leonard said. Henry's teachers also said it was absent from the fiery speeches at rallies.

On the third day, a multi-racial group of Henry educators met to discuss what seemed like the absence of this priority. On the next day, the group decided it would gather signatures for a petition urging union leaders to uphold the MOA as a bargaining priority.

Five days in, the MFT released a statement telling its members not to engage members showing up at other picket sites with petitions. The statement referred to the efforts as “shenanigans and distractions.”

Those carrying petitions, Leonard said, were blocked by strike captains. Henry teachers feared the MOA wasn’t even at the table and when they finally cornered Callahan and ESP president Shaun Laden, Leonard said Callahan said the MOA wasn’t negotiated at that point.

Caroline Long, an MPS teacher and one of four BIPOC members on the union negotiating team, said confidentiality agreements signed by both sides kept many details of the ongoing negotiations under wraps. They also wanted to be careful not to reveal negotiating strategies.

She said the contract language for retaining teachers of color was never dropped, though there were times when negotiators tried to include the language in a more sweeping anti-bias, anti-racist agreement that would address systemic racism.

“We weren’t supposed to be talking about these things,” Long said. “Greta tried to share as much as she could, they tried to be as assuring as they possibly could without revealing too much. Us members of color on the negotiating team kind of felt like we were being erased by things that were happening outside of negotiations. I’m sitting here fighting this battle with my other colleagues of color but you don’t see what we’re doing.”

‘Living values on the line’

Henry English teacher Nafessah Muhammad said history is loaded with examples of unkept promises by white leadership. She said the union failed to appreciate how what was unsaid during the strike impacted BIPOC educators.

This was especially true when union officials called for pickets outside the homes of school board members. Henry teachers, concerned about Black members on the school board, said they tried to get union leaders to understand the optics of a group of white people gathered outside a Black residence. The pickets went on as called for.

“This speaks to the lack of cultural knowledge and understanding of the legacy of white mobs showing up on Black peoples’ lawns to burn crosses or take them out of their homes to lynch them,” Muhammad said. “Honestly, I was triggered throughout the whole strike because of that, because the moment any of us tried to speak up, we were shunned, we were ostracized.

“You have to have a sensitivity towards your membership of color. If you’re promoting protections… and then all of a sudden it’s not on the signs, it’s not in the speeches, it’s not in the daily briefings, well, of course, there’s going to be questions.”

Muhammad was ready to quit the district but reconsidered because of her love for Henry High School. How the Henry teachers mobilized to disrupt was a beautiful display of people “living their values on the line,” she said.

Since the strike ended, more than 50 BIPOC educators and union members from around the district formed a caucus to show up to union meetings and to remain active with issues important to them.

“This creates a miniature district within a district,” Muhammad said. “That’s going to be pretty powerful.”

The school strike aimed to protect BIPOC teachers. Instead, some feel ‘ostracized’