AFT Joins Nationwide Boycott Against Target

CHICAGO-On Labor Day, AFT President Randi Weingarten joined Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates and Dr. Jamal Bryant, senior pastor at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Stonecrest, Ga., to announce dual union resolutions in support of the nationwide boycott against Target, after the retailer rescinded its diversity, equity and inclusive efforts to comply with the Trump administration's offensive attacks on DEI and communities of color.

Announced during Chicago's "Workers Over Billionaires" Labor Day march and rally, the union support for the boycott comes as public school educators, students and their families return to the classroom and as school supply purchases are front-of-mind for many. The AFT's executive committee passed its resolution late last week, making it clear that its 1.8 million members-public school educators, school-related personnel, higher education faculty and staff, healthcare workers and government employees-should spend their money elsewhere until Target reverses its stance.

Since Bryant launched his boycott against Target, the retail chain has lost over $12 billion in sales and removed its CEO amid declining shopper confidence and a spiraling share price.

The AFT's resolution calls for Target to honor its commitment by:

• Fulfilling its $2 billion pledge to the Black business community;
• Making a multimillion-dollar investment into 23 Black-owned banks;
• Establishing 10 retail training centers at historically Black colleges and universities; and
• Fully restoring and recommitting to DEI principles.

"This week, the AFT executive council voted to join this movement's boycott of Target. We rarely engage in this type of action, but we're doing so here because Target betrayed promises to communities of color throughout the United States," says Weingarten. "Target rolled back promises to help the people who have been loyal customers, because of a president who is trying to roll back history and ignore the struggle for freedom and justice. Those customers, who have helped Target's bottom line, now feel set aside, ignored and dismissed.

"This movement comes at a crucial moment-when American workers find themselves at the whim of billionaires and board rooms that are more invested in money over people. We want this resolution-and the full weight of our nearly 2 million members-to be a reminder to Target that there are consequences to dismissing the will of the American worker and that, until they do right, our members will be spending their money in places they feel respected and recognized."

"The expansion of the "Target Fast" and subsequent boycott through our monumental partnership with the AFT is more than symbolic-it is prophetic," said Dr. Bryant. "On this Labor Day, we honor the sweat, sacrifice and struggle of working families whose hands have built this nation and whose voices must never be silenced.

"Together with educators and labor leaders, we declare that corporate America cannot dismantle diversity, equity and inclusion without facing the collective power of a people who refuse to be erased. This movement is about protecting the dignity of work, the strength of families and the soul of our democracy."

"Every day, Black and brown working-class families walk into Target to spend $100 and leave spending $300. Their hard-earned dollars are fueling Target's record profits and executive bonuses-even as their schools remain underfunded and their communities underserved," said Davis Gates. "So when Target retreats from its commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, it's not just cowardice-it's complicity with white supremacy. It sends a dangerous signal to those who want to erase the dignity and safety of our students, our families and our classrooms.

The Chicago Teachers Union, alongside our AFT family, Pastor Bryant, activists Nina Turner and Tamika Mallory, and millions of others, will not stand for it. If you won't stand for equity and liberation, we won't stand in your checkout lines."

"For years, Black and brown shoppers have shown their loyalty to Target through their hard-earned dollars, only to be told their communities, identities and, indeed, hard-earned money, were no longer important, said AFT Secretary-Treasurer Fedrick Ingram. "That betrayal breeds pain, but this ban is not born of anger or spite, but out of an obligation to justice and fairness. It is a righteous effort to bring a company to account to the people and the communities that have invested years of good will and untold millions and expect something in return. When Target, for years a stalwart defender of diversity, equity and inclusion, turned heel to appease the retrograde agenda of the Trump administration, it became clear that this ban was necessary to send a message: that the Black dollar and Black labor will not be taken for granted."

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The AFT represents 1.8 million pre-K through 12th-grade teachers; paraprofessionals and other school-related personnel; higher education faculty and professional staff; federal, state and local government employees; nurses and healthcare workers; and early childhood educators.