Community Classes

Spring 2026

Cost: $50 for union-sponsored participants; $25 for participants without union support; free to anyone who cannot afford to pay. If a class meets several times, the suggested price is per meeting. Registration is required for these classes, the majority of which are virtual. Click the class title to register. Zoom links will be emailed after registration for virtual classes.

Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) provided for most online classes.

Matewan (1987) at Trylon Cinema: Watch and Discuss

Date & Time: Monday, March 23rd, 7:00–11:00 PM CT (movie at 7:00 PM, optional discussion afterwards)

Labor Education Service is leading a group screening and discussion of Matewan (1987) at Trylon Cinema in Minneapolis as a part of the Trylon Cinema’s, “Bad Company: 19 Films Featuring Evil Corporations” programming. LES has secured 10 tickets—first to register, first serve! If we run out, feel free to buy your own ticket and join us! 

After the screening, we will lead an (optional) discussion at Merlin’s Rest Pub a few blocks away to talk about the movie and the portrayal of unions and labor in Hollywood movies. 

The screening is available on a sliding scale and comes with 1 free ticket to the movie screening for the first 10 participants to register. 

Facilitator: Isabela Escalona

Which Side Are You On? How Minnesota Workers Have Resisted Fascism

Date & Time: Thursday, April 16th, 5:00–6:30 PM CT

Workers have a long and storied history of resisting attempts to pit them against each other. We will discuss examples specific to Minnesota’s labor movement, such as the Teamsters truckers’ strike of 1934, and its militant legacies that we are seeing today. Workers organized and mobilized to take defensive and offensive measures against various entities—hate groups, armed forces, corporations, and corporate-backed elected officials—that sought to violently divide their communities and hoard resources. This class is for anyone wanting to learn more about Minnesota’s history of radical resistance.

Facilitators: Amie Stager & Keith Christensen

Date & Time: Thursday, June 11th, 1:00–3:00 PM CT

An increasing number of unions and locals have declared themselves “sanctuary unions”: unions that provide protection and support to immigrant union members (and in some cases, to immigrants in the broader community). The sanctuary union movement began in the early days of the first Trump administration, but it grew exponentially in Minnesota during Operation Metro Surge as a labor-led strategy for resistance, mutual aid, and community defense. This class will examine the history of the sanctuary union movement, and some of the key strategies, tactics, and lessons learned by sanctuary union organizers since 2017.

Facilitator: Amy Livingston

A History of General Strikes in the United States

Date & Time: Thursday, July 9th, 3:00–4:30 PM CT

This class will provide a brief history of general strikes in the United States. We'll look at where the idea of a general strike comes from, and how this concept is woven into the fabric of U.S. labor history. We'll also examine how general strikes were organized, and what the outcomes were.

Facilitators: Labor historian and journalist Jeff Schuhrke, and Sarah Lazare