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2026 Labor Notes Conference
Type: Strategy clear filter
Friday, June 12
 

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
SL

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

1:00pm CDT

Bargaining When the Boss Says They're Broke
Friday June 12, 2026 1:00pm - 2:45pm CDT
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
SW

Samantha Winslow

California Teachers Association
Speakers
JT

Jon Truong

Code for America Workers United, OPEIU Local 1010
LC

Lynley Closson

Code for America Workers United, OPEIU Local 1010
CC

Christina Christman

Federation of Social Workers, IUE-CWA
SC

Sam Cleare

United Teachers of Richmond

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

1:00pm CDT

Beyond Bread and Butter: Expanding What We Bargain For
Friday June 12, 2026 1:00pm - 2:45pm CDT
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
KK

Kim Kelly

Writers Guild East
Speakers
AA

Arleigh Atkinson

Kickstarter Union
YC

Yajaira Cuapio

United Educators of San Francisco
JF

Jane Fox

UAW Local 2325
MR

Maya Ragsdale

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

1:00pm CDT

Building Power in Grocery and Meatpacking
Friday June 12, 2026 1:00pm - 2:45pm CDT
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
ES

Errol Schweizer

The Checkout Grocery Update, National Writers Union
Speakers
KS

Kathleen Scott

United Food and Commercial Workers Local 770, Albertsons
FH

Frank Halstead

Teamsters Local 572, Ralphs
AP

Alexandra Piper

United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1776, Whole Foods
NM

Nathaniel Mann

United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7, JBS
Friday June 12, 2026 1:00pm - 2:45pm CDT
Int’l Ballroom E

1:00pm CDT

Chokepoints for Supply Chain Workers
Friday June 12, 2026 1:00pm - 2:45pm CDT
(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
GH

Gifford Hartman

Peralta Federation of Teachers
Speakers
PO

Peter Olney

Longshore (ILWU)
SL

Sam Levens

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

Billy Randel

Truckers Movement for Justice
Friday June 12, 2026 1:00pm - 2:45pm CDT
London

1:00pm CDT

Can Political Strikes Restore Labor's Power?
Friday June 12, 2026 1:00pm - 2:45pm CDT
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
AH

Alex Han

May Day Strong
Speakers
MB

Matt Bach

Massachusetts Teachers Association
JP

Jackson Potter

Chicago Teachers Union
KF

Kieran F. Knutson

Communications Workers Local 7250
MH

Marcia Howard

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

3:05pm CDT

Using the Railway Labor Act to Our Advantage
Friday June 12, 2026 3:05pm - 4:50pm CDT
(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
JB

Joe Burns

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

3:05pm CDT

What Will It Take to Win? A Conversation with Labor Movement Veterans
Friday June 12, 2026 3:05pm - 4:50pm CDT
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
MS

Megan Svoboda

Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee (EWOC)
Speakers
PO

Peter Olney

Longshore (ILWU)
VC

Vanessa Coe

National Union of Healthcare Workers
Friday June 12, 2026 3:05pm - 4:50pm CDT
United B
 
Saturday, June 13
 

9:00am CDT

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

Mark Brenner

University of Oregon Labor Education and Research Center
Speakers
SR

Sarina Roher

Oregon Federation of Nurses & Health Professionals
MC

Matias Campos

UPTE-CWA and California Nurses
RM

Richelle Milford

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

9:00am CDT

How to Build Power: From Acting Tactically to Thinking Strategically
Saturday June 13, 2026 9:00am - 10:45am CDT
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
EW

Ericka Wills

University of Wisconsin School for Workers
Saturday June 13, 2026 9:00am - 10:45am CDT
United B

9:00am CDT

Upping Our Strategy to Build Working-Class Power
Saturday June 13, 2026 9:00am - 10:45am CDT
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
SL

Stephanie Luce

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

Margarita Hernandez

Grassroots Power Project
IO

Inez O’Donnell

Union of Southern Service Workers
KR

Katie Romich

Communications Workers District 7
Saturday June 13, 2026 9:00am - 10:45am CDT
Barajas

9:00am CDT

Find Your Workplace Leverage—and Use It
Saturday June 13, 2026 9:00am - 10:45am CDT
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
SM

Sarah Mason

Long Haul
Speakers
YJ

Yuchen Jin

New York Times Tech Guild
RR

Rendi Rogers

United Electrical Workers (UE) Local 261
IP

Ira Pollock

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

2:15pm CDT

Case Study: Reflections from the UCORE Network of Teachers Union Reformers
Saturday June 13, 2026 2:15pm - 4:00pm CDT
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
JS

Jane Slaughter

Labor Notes
Speakers
LA

Luke Amphlett

San Antonio Alliance of Teachers and Support Personnel
KG

Kelsey Gray

Columbus Education Association
JL

Jia Lee

United Federation of Teachers, MORE Caucus
JP

Jackson Potter

Chicago Teachers Union
AU

Alison Underdahl

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

2:15pm CDT

Industrial Policy: Union Visions for Our Jobs
Saturday June 13, 2026 2:15pm - 4:00pm CDT
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
DG

Dustin Guastella

Teamsters Local 623, Center for Working-Class Politics
Speakers
KB

Kassie Beyer

Jobs to Move America
PC

Patrick Crowley

Rhode Island AFL-CIO
BR

Brenda Rodriguez

CHIPS Communities United
MT

Morten Thaysen

New Economy Organisers Network
Saturday June 13, 2026 2:15pm - 4:00pm CDT
Capital

4:30pm CDT

Climate Jobs Organizing Strategies
Saturday June 13, 2026 4:30pm - 6:15pm CDT
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
RP

Rohan Palacios

Cornell ILR Climate Jobs Institute
Speakers
PC

Patrick Crowley

Rhode Island AFL-CIO
EH

Eileen Hagerman

IUE-CWA Local 83600
BH

Ben Harper

Cornell University ILR Climate Jobs Institute
LT

Lerry Thomas

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

4:30pm CDT

Defending and Expanding Public Sector Collective Bargaining Rights
Saturday June 13, 2026 4:30pm - 6:15pm CDT
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
JW

Jayanni Webster

CWA Local 3866
Speakers
EB

Eyklipse Baca

Denver Public Library Workers United, CWA Local 7799
DM

Dane MacNeil

AFSCME Local 47
IS

Ivy Smith

AFSCME Local 1004
HS

Harry Szabo

United Campus Workers Virginia, CWA Local 2265
Saturday June 13, 2026 4:30pm - 6:15pm CDT
Vienna

4:30pm CDT

Don't Wait for Recognition: Pre-Majority Unionism
Saturday June 13, 2026 4:30pm - 6:15pm CDT
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 Speakers
DC

Drew Curtis

Government Employees (AFGE) 3911
LL

Lu Liu

Alphabet Workers Union-CWA
CP

Carlos Perez

Durham Association of Educators
MM

Mark Medina

Food Chain Workers Alliance
Saturday June 13, 2026 4:30pm - 6:15pm CDT
Florence

4:30pm CDT

Case Study: Minnesota Bargaining and Organizing Coalition
Saturday June 13, 2026 4:30pm - 6:15pm CDT
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
SL

Stephanie Luce

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

Greg Nammacher

SEIU Local 26
TS

Taylor Shevey

Centro de Trabajadores Unidos en la Lucha (CTUL)
CT

Catina Taylor

Minneapolis Federation of Educators
JW

Jay Wahi

St. Paul Federation of Educators
Saturday June 13, 2026 4:30pm - 6:15pm CDT
DFW
 
Sunday, June 14
 

10:45am CDT

From May 2026 to May 2028: Seasons of Class Struggle
Sunday June 14, 2026 10:45am - 12:30pm CDT
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
SW

Samantha Winslow

California Teachers Association
Speakers
RB

Rose Bookbinder

Massachusetts Nurses Association
KM

Katie Murphy

Massachusetts Nurses Association
SD

Stacy Davis Gates

Chicago Teachers Union
NH

Natalie Hrizi

United Educators of San Francisco
DO

Derrick Osobase

Communications Workers, District 6
Sunday June 14, 2026 10:45am - 12:30pm CDT
Rosemont CD

10:45am CDT

Case Study: NewsGuild's Member-Leader Program
Sunday June 14, 2026 10:45am - 12:30pm CDT
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
NB

Nick Bedell

NewsGuild
NS

Nish Suvarnakar

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