On Saturday, April 4, in another meaningful demonstration of worker power and solidarity, nearly 200 workers and activists gathered for a second Workers’ Assembly in Minneapolis to prepare for May Day. The room filled with rank-and-file teachers, bus drivers, logistic workers, and workers from other sectors, both unionized and non-unionized. In contrast to union or social movement meetings where attendees are treated as constituents rather than political actors, members of the assembly brought proposals, openly debated them, and voted decisions to act on.

This mass meeting comes on the heels of the March 28 No Kings mobilizations, in which spontaneous chants of “End the war!” broke out during a speech by Bernie Sanders in Minneapolis. The assembly also follows a first, 400-worker assembly, which voted to mobilize for May Day 2026 in a day of “No work, no school, no shopping.”

In many ways, the grassroots anti-ICE movement in Minneapolis has been the beating heart of working-class organization and resistance in the face of the political developments of the first months of 2026. In this context, the Minneapolis Workers’ Assembly shines a light on the political possibilities of an anti-ICE, anti-war movement organized democratically by rank-and-file workers, and provides an alternative to a movement dictated by the labor and social movement bureaucracies.

In this second assembly, new themes like internationalism in worker’s struggles and no war with Iran arose, alongside a strengthened cross-sector commitment to developing plans for a day of action — No Work, No School, No Shopping — on May 1, International Worker’s Day. Coming in the wake of Trump’s defeat in Minneapolis, this May Day has the potential to be particularly combative, as an expression of the anti-ICE and anti-war sentiment that pervades layers of the working class and the youth.

The assembly passed five out of six proposals, one of which included officially adopting the slogan, “No ICE, No War, No Billionaires” for May 1. Another proposal established a workers’ assembly contingent in the march that will take place on Lake Street that day. This contingent will represent the deliberative body of the workers’ assembly, allowing workers to talk to others in the street about workers’ democracy and how to unite across the sectoral divisions imposed by union structures.

The assembly also approved a proposal establishing an Educators’ Contingent at May Day that will demand fully funded public schools and oppose the Minnesota “Blue Ribbon Commission on Special Education” and state “cross-subsidies” which encompass cuts to school funding and student support. The assembly also voted to endorse an April 19 pressure campaign action against Target. Finally, the assembly heard a message of solidarity from a teacher in Oaxaca, Mexico, and split into breakout groups to plan for May Day.

As we prepare from our workplaces, universities, and organizations for International Workers’ Day, in an effort to build our anti-ICE and anti-war movement from the streets, we should look to the Minneapolis Workers’ Assembly as an example of how to democratically organize the movement from our strategic position as the working class.

The post “No ICE, No War, No Billionaires”: A Second Minneapolis Workers’ Assembly Prepares for May Day appeared first on Left Voice.

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