2026 Labor Notes Conference: Full Schedule

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

Megan Svoboda

Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee (EWOC)

Speakers

Gay Semel

Peter Olney

Longshore (ILWU)

Vanessa Coe

National Union of Healthcare Workers

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

Strategy

9:00am CDT

Coordinated Bargaining

Saturday June 13, 2026 9:00am - 10:45am CDT

Lindbergh

Join us for a discussion of coordinated bargaining in various scenarios: within the same union with a common employer, across different unions with a common employer, and across different unions with different employers. Topics will include aligning contracts, coordinating actions and strikes, and negotiations strategy.

Moderators

Mark Brenner

University of Oregon Labor Education and Research Center

Speakers

Sarina Roher

Oregon Federation of Nurses & Health Professionals

Matias Campos

UPTE-CWA and California Nurses

Richelle Milford

Richmond Teachers Association

Saturday June 13, 2026 9:00am - 10:45am CDT
Lindbergh

Bargaining Strategy

9:00am CDT

How to Build Power: From Acting Tactically to Thinking Strategically

Saturday June 13, 2026 9:00am - 10:45am CDT

United B

You can maximize the impact of tactics by making them part of a larger strategy. Draft individualized components for reaching your organization’s main goal. Practice activities that will help you recognize members’ strengths, identify community alliances, and align purposeful, escalating tactics to build the power to win.

Moderators

Ericka Wills

University of Wisconsin School for Workers

Saturday June 13, 2026 9:00am - 10:45am CDT
United B

Strategy

9:00am CDT

Upping Our Strategy to Build Working-Class Power

Saturday June 13, 2026 9:00am - 10:45am CDT

Barajas

Unions fight for better wages and working conditions, but we also want to build power to win transformative change for working people and the planet. How can we work across unions and sectors, align with community partners, and build powerful alliances that begin to change the balance of power? Hear how unions are developing a long-term agenda and strategy to win bigger gains.

Moderators

Stephanie Luce

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

Speakers

Margarita Hernandez

Grassroots Power Project

Inez O’Donnell

Union of Southern Service Workers

Katie Romich

Communications Workers District 7

Saturday June 13, 2026 9:00am - 10:45am CDT
Barajas

Strategy

9:00am CDT

Find Your Workplace Leverage—and Use It

Saturday June 13, 2026 9:00am - 10:45am CDT

Seatac

Workplace mapping, a tried-and-true step in campaign planning, can help workers discover different sources of leverage based on specific work performed. Reflect on new ways to bring pain to the boss and explore possibilities for adapting this method to different industries.

Moderators

Sarah Mason

Long Haul

Speakers

Yuchen Jin

New York Times Tech Guild

Rendi Rogers

United Electrical Workers (UE) Local 261

Ira Pollock

Amazon Teamsters

Saturday June 13, 2026 9:00am - 10:45am CDT
Seatac

Strategy Shop Floor Power

2:15pm CDT

Case Study: Reflections from the UCORE Network of Teachers Union Reformers

Saturday June 13, 2026 2:15pm - 4:00pm CDT

London

Teachers unions met 14 years ago to chart a path to union reform and organizing through reform caucuses. What was the purpose, and what were the outcomes? What role does the ongoing network serve now? And what can it teach us about the role of worker networks in transforming our unions?

Moderators

Jane Slaughter

Labor Notes

Speakers

Luke Amphlett

San Antonio Alliance of Teachers and Support Personnel

Kelsey Gray

Columbus Education Association

Jia Lee

United Federation of Teachers, MORE Caucus

Jackson Potter

Chicago Teachers Union

Alison Underdahl

Seattle Education Association

Saturday June 13, 2026 2:15pm - 4:00pm CDT
London

Reform Caucuses Strategy

2:15pm CDT

Industrial Policy: Union Visions for Our Jobs

Saturday June 13, 2026 2:15pm - 4:00pm CDT

Capital

To shape a pro-worker economic future, we'll need industrial policy: coordinated goverment action to plan what our economy produces and how. Learn how some unions and community organizations are beginning to do this at the state and federal levels.

Moderators

Dustin Guastella

Teamsters Local 623, Center for Working-Class Politics

Speakers

Kassie Beyer

Jobs to Move America

Patrick Crowley

Rhode Island AFL-CIO

Brenda Rodriguez

CHIPS Communities United

Morten Thaysen

New Economy Organisers Network

Saturday June 13, 2026 2:15pm - 4:00pm CDT
Capital

Strategy Politics Climate

4:30pm CDT

Climate Jobs Organizing Strategies

Saturday June 13, 2026 4:30pm - 6:15pm CDT

Int’l Ballroom E

It's critical that jobs in the clean energy sector become high-quality, union jobs. Unions are beginning to make this happen in two ways: legislative campaigns and industrial policy from the top, and new organizing from below. Come learn about the development of clean energy industries and how unions are taking advantage of opportunities to organize.

Moderators

Rohan Palacios

Cornell ILR Climate Jobs Institute

Speakers

Patrick Crowley

Rhode Island AFL-CIO

Eileen Hagerman

IUE-CWA Local 83600

Ben Harper

Cornell University ILR Climate Jobs Institute

Lerry Thomas

Green Workers Alliance

Saturday June 13, 2026 4:30pm - 6:15pm CDT
Int’l Ballroom E

Climate Strategy

4:30pm CDT

Defending and Expanding Public Sector Collective Bargaining Rights

Saturday June 13, 2026 4:30pm - 6:15pm CDT

Vienna

Public sector bargaining laws are highly uneven across the U.S.—from states with union shop to states with absolutely no bargaining or union recognition rights for public workers. Hear how fights to win back collective bargaining rights are reinvigorating unions and empowering members.

Moderators

Jayanni Webster

CWA Local 3866

Speakers

Eyklipse Baca

Denver Public Library Workers United, CWA Local 7799

Dane MacNeil

AFSCME Local 47

Ivy Smith

AFSCME Local 1004

Harry Szabo

United Campus Workers Virginia, CWA Local 2265

Saturday June 13, 2026 4:30pm - 6:15pm CDT
Vienna

Government Workers Strategy Politics

4:30pm CDT

Don't Wait for Recognition: Pre-Majority Unionism

Saturday June 13, 2026 4:30pm - 6:15pm CDT

Florence

Labor movement membership is at 10% of the workforce and shrinking nearly every year. Unions do a good job of winning NLRB elections, but not nearly at the scale we need to grow. We need more ways to organize and reach the millions of workers who want to join a union. One way is where workers without official recognition and a contract form a union and fight for improvements on the job - what EWOC calls Pre-Majority unions. This form of organizing is available to any group of workers now—whether they can't get legal union recognition, or they feel that winning an election may be years away, or they don't necessarily want a contract, but simply want to organize for immediate improvements. Panelists from several pre-majority unions will discuss challenges and successes in their campaigns.

Moderators

Eric Dirnbach

EWOC

Speakers

Drew Curtis

Government Employees (AFGE) 3911

Lu Liu

Alphabet Workers Union-CWA

Carlos Perez

Durham Association of Educators

Mark Medina

Food Chain Workers Alliance

Saturday June 13, 2026 4:30pm - 6:15pm CDT
Florence

New Organizing Strategy

4:30pm CDT

Case Study: Minnesota Bargaining and Organizing Coalition

Saturday June 13, 2026 4:30pm - 6:15pm CDT

DFW

There's a backstory to the inspiring uprising in the Twin Cities. Trump picked the wrong place to pick on, because a coalition of unions and community organizations there had been planning and building together for many years. Those relationships yielded a coordinated bargaining plan in 2024, shared demands, and political power, and set the stage for mass action against Trump in 2025. Learn more about their education, organizing, and political coalition work.

Moderators

Stephanie Luce

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

Speakers

Greg Nammacher

SEIU Local 26

Taylor Shevey

Centro de Trabajadores Unidos en la Lucha (CTUL)

Catina Taylor

Minneapolis Federation of Educators

Jay Wahi

St. Paul Federation of Educators

Saturday June 13, 2026 4:30pm - 6:15pm CDT
DFW

Strategy Bargaining

10:45am CDT

From May 2026 to May 2028: Seasons of Class Struggle

Sunday June 14, 2026 10:45am - 12:30pm CDT

Rosemont CD

Nearly 1 million people in Minnesota joined a political strike January 23, demanding that ICE agents stop occupying their state. Tens of thousands turned out for May Day demonstrations across the country. And the United Auto Workers has put out a call for a May 1, 2028, national strike. The next leap is to prepare for open-ended and full workplace strikes, not one-day partial strikes, and to hit the big companies nationally rather than a handful of name-brands in one state. Hear how unions are building momentum towards contract alignments and possible large-scale strikes in 2028.

Moderators

Samantha Winslow

California Teachers Association

Speakers

Rose Bookbinder

Massachusetts Nurses Association

Katie Murphy

Massachusetts Nurses Association

Stacy Davis Gates

Chicago Teachers Union

Natalie Hrizi

United Educators of San Francisco

Derrick Osobase

Communications Workers, District 6

Sunday June 14, 2026 10:45am - 12:30pm CDT
Rosemont CD

Political Education Strategy

10:45am CDT

Case Study: NewsGuild's Member-Leader Program

Sunday June 14, 2026 10:45am - 12:30pm CDT

Int’l Ballroom F

Hear how one union has built out its member education and development program. The NewsGuild has grown by 50 percent in the last decade, which required it to bargain dozens of new contracts, train hundreds of new stewards, and support even more organizing committees at new workplaces. Hear how The NewsGuild is trying to solve the “not enough staff capacity” problem by training members to do the work of the union.

Moderators

Nick Bedell

NewsGuild

Nish Suvarnakar

Consumer Reports Guild

Sunday June 14, 2026 10:45am - 12:30pm CDT
Int’l Ballroom F

Strategy Shop Floor Power

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