2026 Labor Notes Conference: Full Schedule

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10:00am CDT

From Defense to Offense: Developing Power and Strategy for the World We Want

Friday June 12, 2026 10:00am - 11:45am CDT

Learn how to move from short-term defensive fights to a plan that can win bigger demands. Good long-term strategy requires first getting clear on our destination: what is the world we are trying to win? We'll discuss power—how to assess what power union members have and what power the bosses and their allies have—and seven strategies worker organizations can use to build power over the long term.

Moderators

Stephanie Luce

Professional Staff Congress, co-author, Practical Radicals: Seven Strategies to Change the World

Friday June 12, 2026 10:00am - 11:45am CDT
Hartsfield

Strategy

1:00pm CDT

Bargaining When the Boss Says They're Broke

Friday June 12, 2026 1:00pm - 2:45pm CDT

Midway

When the boss cries poor, do we take them at their word? Hear how people have gotten creative, helped their co-workers overcome hopelessness, and won better deals, in the public and private sectors.

Moderators

Samantha Winslow

California Teachers Association

Speakers

Jon Truong

Code for America Workers United, OPEIU Local 1010

Lynley Closson

Code for America Workers United, OPEIU Local 1010

Christina Christman

Federation of Social Workers, IUE-CWA

Sam Cleare

United Teachers of Richmond

Friday June 12, 2026 1:00pm - 2:45pm CDT
Midway

Bargaining Strategy

1:00pm CDT

Beyond Bread and Butter: Expanding What We Bargain For

Friday June 12, 2026 1:00pm - 2:45pm CDT

Grand Ballroom C

Unions can be powerful champions for the whole working class. Hear how some are fighting for creative contract demands to tackle the crises of student debt, incarceration, and housing, and even demanding a four-day work week.

This workshop will begin with a short song by Jayanni Webster, CWA Local 3866.

Moderators

Kim Kelly

Writers Guild East

Speakers

Arleigh Atkinson

Kickstarter Union

Yajaira Cuapio

United Educators of San Francisco

Jane Fox

UAW Local 2325

Maya Ragsdale

Beyond the Bars

Friday June 12, 2026 1:00pm - 2:45pm CDT
Grand Ballroom C

Bargaining Strategy

1:00pm CDT

Building Power in Grocery and Meatpacking

Friday June 12, 2026 1:00pm - 2:45pm CDT

Int’l Ballroom E

Grocery and meatpacking workers across the U.S. are fighting for stronger contracts, organizing new unions, and defeating corporate mergers. We'll discuss the opportunities and challenges of organizing in these sectors, and how worker coordination across the food supply chain can help beat the boss.

Moderators

Errol Schweizer

The Checkout Grocery Update, National Writers Union

Speakers

Kathleen Scott

United Food and Commercial Workers Local 770, Albertsons

Frank Halstead

Teamsters Local 572, Ralphs

Alexandra Piper

United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1776, Whole Foods

Nathaniel Mann

United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7, JBS

Friday June 12, 2026 1:00pm - 2:45pm CDT
Int’l Ballroom E

Strategy Contract Campaigns

1:00pm CDT

Chokepoints for Supply Chain Workers

Friday June 12, 2026 1:00pm - 2:45pm CDT

London

(Part of the Railroad Workers United convention, but open to all.) By understanding production systems and supply chains, and drawing on our own experience, logistics workers can identify chokepoints and vulnerabilities that give us leverage to win. Historically workers have used this power to win better wages, benefits, and working conditions, and even to block arms from being shipped to war zones, such as to Central America in the 1980s or Gaza last fall. Lessons from those actions apply to the war on Iran today.

Moderators

Gifford Hartman

Peralta Federation of Teachers

Speakers

Peter Olney

Longshore (ILWU)

Sam Levens

Inlandboatmen's Union (IBU-ILWU) and International Transport Workers Federation (ITF)

Billy Randel

Truckers Movement for Justice

Friday June 12, 2026 1:00pm - 2:45pm CDT
London

Strikes Strategy

1:00pm CDT

Can Political Strikes Restore Labor's Power?

Friday June 12, 2026 1:00pm - 2:45pm CDT

Grand Ballroom B

Strikes can demand a lot more than a raise. Minnesota unions and community organizations held a mass strike in January, demanding to kick out ICE, deny it further funding, and hold officers accountable for killings. The Chicago Teachers Union won a demand to make May 1 a day of civic action, allowing educators and students to participate in the national day of no, work, no school, no shopping. Hear from organizers who were on the front lines, pushing boundaries of what a fighting labor movement can win.

Moderators

Alex Han

May Day Strong

Speakers

Matt Bach

Massachusetts Teachers Association

Jackson Potter

Chicago Teachers Union

Kieran F. Knutson

Communications Workers Local 7250

Marcia Howard

Minneapolis Federation of Educators

Friday June 12, 2026 1:00pm - 2:45pm CDT
Grand Ballroom B

Strikes Strategy Politics

3:05pm CDT

Using the Railway Labor Act to Our Advantage

Friday June 12, 2026 3:05pm - 4:50pm CDT

London

(Part of the Railroad Workers United convention, but open to all.) During the national freight rail contract fight of 2022, upwards of 90 percent of railroad workers were poised for a national strike for the first time in three decades... but no strike materialized. Government officials use the Railway Labor Act to limit worker actions and undermine our rights, including the fundamental right to strike. Hear how airline workers have built the power to resist despite these constraints, and how railroad workers can likewise build effective bargaining campaigns.

Moderators

Joe Burns

labor lawyer

Friday June 12, 2026 3:05pm - 4:50pm CDT
London

Labor Law Strategy

3:05pm CDT

What Will It Take to Win? A Conversation with Labor Movement Veterans

Friday June 12, 2026 3:05pm - 4:50pm CDT

United B

Rebuilding labor’s power will take more than winning union elections at individual workplaces. Hear insights from veteran organizers and labor strategies drawn from big campaigns including the effort to organize hundreds of thousands of L.A. manufacturing workers, the strike by 40,000 Verizon workers in 2016, and ongoing organizing and contract fights at Kaiser.

Moderators

Strategy

2026 Labor Notes Conference

10:00am CDT

Stephanie Luce

1:00pm CDT

Samantha Winslow

Jon Truong

Lynley Closson

Christina Christman

Sam Cleare

1:00pm CDT

Kim Kelly

Arleigh Atkinson

Yajaira Cuapio

Jane Fox

Maya Ragsdale

1:00pm CDT

Errol Schweizer

Kathleen Scott

Frank Halstead

Alexandra Piper

Nathaniel Mann

1:00pm CDT

Gifford Hartman

Peter Olney

Sam Levens

Billy Randel

1:00pm CDT

Alex Han

Matt Bach

Jackson Potter

Kieran F. Knutson

Marcia Howard

3:05pm CDT

Joe Burns

3:05pm CDT

Megan Svoboda

Gay Semel

Peter Olney

Vanessa Coe

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