The DREAM Caucus

09/16/2026

📢 WHEN MEMBERS ASK QUESTIONS, THEY SHOULDN'T BE TREATED LIKE THE PROBLEM

What you see in this video isn't just about one person, one specific question, or a single meeting.

It highlights an ongoing issue that Dream Caucus and many rank-and-file members have been talking about for years:

❓ What happens to our union when members who ask legitimate questions are constantly turned into the bad guys?
📅 HOW DID WE GET HERE?

To understand where we are today, we have to look back at what happened in 2023.

💰 February 2023: A female union member simply asked to see financial and audit records. Dream Caucus members voiced serious concerns over how she was treated, pointing to what felt like a coordinated pushback against someone just trying to understand union finances.

🔴 May 2023: Members raised concerns about organizing around “wearing red” and what they experienced as the identification and targeting of particular members.

🤝 August 11, 2023: Members met with Duluth Federation of Teachers, leadership to talk through the growing hostility. We left that meeting expecting those tensions to be addressed constructively through steward structures.

We know we can't change the past or undo what was done.
The opportunity to prevent the damage that followed has passed.
What really matters now is how things unfolded afterward—and whether this behavior ever actually stopped.

❓ MEMBERS KEPT ASKING QUESTIONS

Members continued asking about:
💰 Finances and audits
📄 Records
🗳️ Elections
⚖️ Meeting procedures and member rights
🤝 Negotiations
📢 Leadership accountability

And there's clear documentation showing why those questions aren't going away.

🎥 Recordings
📧 Emails
📝 Meeting records
📚 Governing documents
🏫 District communications
📂 Public data

🗣️ Members documenting their own experiences
Dream Caucus believes these records highlight deep issues around union democracy, transparency, racial equity, member rights, retaliation, and how members are treated when they challenge leadership.

🏫 DISTRICT RESOURCES MATTER
Members have voiced real fears about actions that seem aimed at risking the jobs or professional standing of those who speak out.

Hostile treatment is still being reported today.

On top of that, public records reveal union-related messages being sent through district emails, shared in school buildings, steward meetings, and other district spaces—often containing unfair or inaccurate portrayals of Dream Caucus members.

🚨 This doesn't build a strong union. It actively weakens us.
A healthy union ought to be a space where we can work through disagreements together.

✅ Members should be able to question leadership.
✅ Members should be able to request financial information.
✅ Members should be able to disagree.
✅ Members should be able to organize together.
✅ Members should be able to propose a different direction for their union.

No one should ever worry that engaging in these basic rights will damage their reputation, their union standing, or their livelihood.

✊🏽 DREAM CAUCUS HAS A RIGHT TO EXIST

We also want to set the record straight on something often said about us:

📣 Rank-and-file members have the right to organize together.
Dream Caucus is simply a group of rank-and-file members coming together to talk about shared goals and concerns.
Joining a union doesn't mean giving up your right to connect with peers, debate ideas, push for better policies, or speak out just because others disagree with you.

🤐 WHY DID MEMBERS KEEP SO MUCH OF THIS PRIVATE?
For a long time, members kept many of these records private because we worried public attention would hurt DFT—and the labor movement as a whole.

We truly tried to fix these issues from within.

We asked questions. ❓
We requested records. 📄
We attended meetings. 🗣️
We proposed changes. 📝
We sought help internally and externally. 🤝

However, there comes a time when staying silent to protect a union's image ends up protecting harmful behavior instead.
We're done staying silent.

💬 Questions are not anti-union.
🔎 Accountability is not anti-union.
🤝 Disagreement is not anti-union.
✊ Rank-and-file organizing is not anti-union.
❤️ Addressing racial harm within our own organization is not anti-union.

Trying to silence, isolate, or target members who speak up breaks the very solidarity we rely on.

🤝 WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT
Real change can't happen if only a few people are willing to stand up and ask hard questions.

📣 If you want a DFT that is truly a union for ALL of its members, join us.

And remember:
You don't have to agree with Dream Caucus on every single issue.

That's completely okay.

We want a union where people can have different opinions, debate openly, ask tough questions, and still stand united whenever our collective rights are on the line.

🔎 We want transparency.
🗳️ We want democratic participation.
❤️ We want racial equity.
⚖️ We want accountability.
✊ We want members' rights respected.
🤝 We want differences addressed through union democracy—not by targeting the people asking questions.
🎥 Watch the interaction.
📄 Examine the documentation.
❓ Ask questions.
🤝 Support Dream Caucus.
📣 Join us.

❤️✊🏽 Our differences do not have to divide our union. How we respond to those differences determines what kind of union we become.
AFT NEA Today Education Minnesota Minnesota AFL-CIO

09/02/2026

🔎 WHY WE’RE REQUESTING THE BARGAINING RECORDS

This is not about blaming Duluth Federation of Teachers, the District, individual negotiators, administrators, or teachers.

It is about understanding what actually happened at the bargaining table.

We have requested negotiation records from the Duluth Federation of Teachers regarding several provisions that became part of our collective bargaining agreements.

We will also be making a similar request to Duluth Public Schools so the documentary record from both sides can be reviewed and compared.

Because at some point, members should be able to answer a pretty basic question:

Who proposed what — and who was negotiating for whom? 👀

🏫 THE AEO/ALC FOUR-DAY WEEK

Our contract established a four-day Monday-through-Thursday workweek for AEO/ALC teaching positions.

Later, the Minnesota Department of Education identified the four-day instructional week as a compliance issue, stating that the ALC was operating on a four-day instructional week without approval for a flexible learning year.

So how did that provision get negotiated into the agreement?

Who proposed it?

What concerns were discussed?

Were instructional-time requirements considered?

Were alternatives proposed?

We don't know.

That's why we're asking for the records.

💰 UP TO $5,000 FOR AEO COURSE CREATION

The agreement also provides compensation of up to $2,500 for creation of a semester AEO course and up to $5,000 for creation of a year-long AEO course when the approved work occurs outside the teacher workday.

Again, we're not assuming there was anything improper about that provision.

We simply want to understand:

Who proposed it? Why those amounts? What was the rationale?

What alternatives were discussed?

📚 RETROACTIVE SALARY-LANE MOVEMENT

The contract also allows eligible educators who complete the requirements for salary-lane advancement—including Master's and additional-credit lanes—to have their salary adjustment made retroactive to the opening of the school year when the required documentation is timely submitted and approved.

That is exactly the kind of negotiated provision members should understand: how it originated, what each side proposed, and what ultimately became part of the agreement.

🎙️ AND THEN THERE'S THE $50,000 QUESTION

We possess a recording of a former DFT negotiator acknowledging that the District raised bringing starting-teacher pay to approximately $50,000 per year.

District administration has also affirmed that this was discussed, and a School Board member has affirmed it as well.

Yet members have heard conflicting accounts about whether that opportunity was ever on the table.

That is precisely why recollections and talking points are not enough.

Show us the bargaining record.

Was approximately $50,000 proposed?

What exactly did the District put forward?

What did DFT propose in response?

Was it rejected, modified, traded for something else, or incorporated into a larger package?

And perhaps most importantly:

What happened between the proposal and the final salary schedule?

That isn't an attack on collective bargaining.

That's how members evaluate collective bargaining.

📂 So we're asking for:

Negotiating-team minutes.
Negotiator notes.
District proposals.
DFT proposals.
Counterproposals.
Tentative agreements.
Salary schedules.
Costing documents.
Bargaining summaries.

Then we can compare the DFT record with the District record.

What did the District propose?

What did DFT propose?

What changed?

Who benefited?

And what ultimately became the contract?

Maybe the records will answer every question.

Maybe they'll raise more.

Either way, members deserve more than competing versions of history.

Show the records. Show the proposals. Let members decide for themselves. ✊📂

NEA Today Education Minnesota AFT Minnesota AFL-CIO

09/01/2026

📄 THE RECORDS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES.

This December 2025 email was obtained from ISD 709 through a Minnesota Government Data Practices Act request. The discussion concerns Dream Caucus communications and even acknowledges uncertainty about who Dream Caucus members are.

That raises an important question for us:

🔎 Were Duluth Federation of Teachers, leadership and others attempting to identify additional Dream Caucus members and track how our caucus was communicating?

That is our inference—not a conclusion—and we will keep requesting District records to determine what actually occurred.

🌱 Meanwhile, we have a great start to our caucus. Rank-and-file members are organizing, asking questions, proposing reforms, and supporting one another. We intend to keep building.

✊ Members have the right to organize, communicate, question leadership, and form a caucus.

⚖️ If our communications are reported to the District while comparable DFT communications receive different treatment, we will document that pattern.

📂 Follow the records.
🎙️ Compare what was said.
🔎 Examine the evidence.

Union democracy belongs to rank-and-file members, too.

— Dream Caucus

NEA Today Education Minnesota AFT Minnesota AFL-CIO

08/27/2026

⚖️ Same standards. Same accountability.

When Duluth Federation of Teachers, rank-and-file members are told that claims should be supported by evidence, we believe that standard should apply equally to everyone—including union leadership. Education Minnesota

📄 Documentation matters.
🗣️ Member voices matter.
✊ Accountability goes both ways.

We have the right to organize, ask questions, advocate for change, and speak publicly about our experiences.
Same rules. Same standards. Same accountability. 🌱

NEA Today AFT

08/15/2026

Duluth Federation of Teachers, Local #692
Education Minnesota
NEA Today
AFT
Minnesota AFL-CIO
Duluth Public Schools

08/05/2026

We have repeatedly requested our updated Constitution and Bylaws since October 2025. As members, we have a legal right to access this information under Minnesota Statutes and the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA). The Duluth Federation of Teachers, Local #692, is legally obligated to provide these documents within a reasonable time frame of 7 to 14 days. There is no requirement for us to go through our steward for this request, yet the documents were not shared with them back in 2025.

Furthermore, since we are protected under 29 U.S. Code § 411, and some of our members have exercised their rights under Section 626A.02 of Minnesota Statutes, we reserve the right to use that data if the Duluth Federation of Teachers and Education Minnesota Field Staff (discipline action against a member expressing fear over ICE, pretty racist) continue to disseminate disinformation that undermines member rights and promotes anti-union sentiments. If necessary, we will make this information publicly available.

Here you all are! NEA Today AFT Minnesota AFL-CIO

07/31/2026

🚨 FYI: We want members to be aware that a member of the Education Minnesota legal team also serves on the Minnesota Public Employment Relations Board (PERB).

⚖️ If you have filed, or plan to file, a matter with PERB involving Education Minnesota or one of its affiliated locals, you may wish to ask whether an alternative attorney or decision-maker is available to help avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest.

📚 I also want to address ongoing misinformation regarding the Duty of Fair Representation (DFR). DFR applies to all employees in the bargaining unit, regardless of whether they are union members.

🤝 In the fall of 2025, the Duluth Federation of Teachers, President refused to provide—or even explain—the Duty of Fair Representation to a BIPOC (Afro-Latino) Dean of Students who was mid-year terminated after using racial slurs as part of a restorative, educational discussion. Whether people agree or disagree with that situation, every employee deserves to understand their rights and the representation available to them.

📣 And because we expect President Fisher of DFT to respond as usual—LIE, DEFLECT, and COUNTERATTACK, just like Trump—we are first reaching out to the individual directly impacted by the Duluth Federation of Teachers’ actions before making any additional public disclosures.

📝 Transparency matters.
✊ Member rights matter.
🍎 Every educator deserves fair representation and accurate information.

PS- DFT, we hope you understand this data is public and that we don't need to redact any information or ask. But if we detect any disinformation, we’ll go beyond just sharing our conversation to clear up your falsehoods.

NEA Today AFT Minnesota AFL-CIO

07/24/2026

It is not our responsibility to educate Education Minnesota (EdMN) Field Staff on the meaning of public data 📊, yet it is ironic, given that we have minutes that capture discussions on Duluth Public Schools resources. Additionally, we have warned them ⚠️, and they have witnessed the implications of anti-unionism related to the Duluth Federation of Teachers, Local #692. In the fall of 2025, EdMN's legal teams suggested we were using inflammatory language towards EdMN staff 📜, all while ignoring the harm to members of the Duluth Federation of Teachers and the broader community, including potential racial harm ✊🏽.

Furthermore, our executive board has informed our stewards that EdMN recommended disciplinary actions against us, including removal, due to fear of ICE 🚨. Therefore, we will assess rights and violations that have occurred.

We have also become aware that in 2022-2023, EdMN removed a field staff member for disclosing financial issues that should have been protected by EdMN's constitutions and bylaws 📋, as well as their whistleblower policy. We possess documents that might illustrate the targeting and the jeopardization of a fellow union brother or sister 🤝's career. We will be looking into the legal implications of this matter. NEA Today AFT

PS: We have made efforts to work with all of you, but what has emerged are lies and harm. EdMN Field Staff have witnessed this, and according to DFT leadership, they are now participating in actions against us. This creates a lack of faith that EdMN is acting in the best interest of all its members. We will be posting ample documentation in the future.

07/23/2026

Duluth Federation of Teachers, Local #692, just found the audio of the DFT Treasurer and a member from November 2024. Natural consequences for disinformation, attacks on members, racism, and harm to unionism. Can you imagine how things would be different if DFT leadership acted as leaders and their associates acted like decent human beings? We'll keep you posted.

PS- Minnesota Statutes Section 626A.02, since 2023.

NEA Today Education Minnesota AFT

07/23/2026