Queer and trans workers have long been at the forefront of intersectional solidarity, bridging identities and social movements. We’ll share highlights of LGBTQIA+ labor culture, comics, and current dispatches, and connect towards building queer futures and vibrant multiracial unions, in style.
Culture is how movements build identity, sustain energy, and make change imaginable. An upsurge of new alliances—fusing politics and culture—is transforming organizing, labor, and community activism. Drawing on historical and contemporary campaigns, artists and activists on the front lines will share the cultural strategies they deploy to build power, win campaigns, and resist authoritarianism.
Employers impose aggressive discipline policies like “zero tolerance” to reinforce their authority. Unions must be equally aggressive in insisting on the time-honored principles of just cause. This workshop will help you to prepare and present grievance and arbitration cases, raising defenses such as disparate treatment, lax enforcement, and double jeopardy. A model request for information will be distributed.
State repression isn't new for the labor movement, but the tone has shifted with the rhetoric of the current administration. Bosses are finding new ways to sow fear and distrust. Yet union activists are pushing back and getting stronger through organizing. Their experiences offer insight that can help us all prepare for the next wave of challenges.
