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.
Build your contract interpretation skills in this hands-on workshop, especially useful for stewards. A co-worker comes to you with a workplace problem, but how do you determine whether it's a potential grievance, and what kind? We'll look at real contracts and example scenarios to practice identifying and analyzing the relevant contract language.
Semiconductor production in the U.S. is set to triple in the next decade, with hundreds of billions in private investment and federal and state subsidies. But these new chip factories bring with them exploitation of workers and toxic byproducts that can contaminate our air, water, and land. We’ll share reports from the front lines of struggles in the semiconductor industry and talk about building worker and community power to make sure these companies are good employers and neighbors.
In the fight for a first contract, the boss has every incentive to stall, stall, stall! Learn how to keep members engaged and determined through the course of a long fight.
An expiring contract can get members fired up and paying close attention. How can we use contract campaigns to build union democracy that lasts? Learn from union members who organized daring contract campaigns. Based on inclusive member discussions and creative collective actions, they won more than paycheck gains, making their unions more member-led and ready to fight.
The strongest alliances go deeper than "you support us on this, we'll support you on that." Hear how unions and community groups are forging long-term ties based in shared values and strategy. Years of spadework have laid strong foundations for current fights to defend immigrants, oust ICE, defeat Islamophobia, and win a contract at Starbucks.
A massive boom in A.I. data centers is sparking fierce controversy in towns across the country. While construction workers see a rare chance to grow their unions, many working people fear higher electric bills, water shortages, job cuts, and rampant pollution. Hear from workers and a researcher about how unions can build common ground, organize data center workers, and win huge concessions from corporate developers.
Burnout—emotional, physical, or mental—is a fact of life for many of us in the labor movement, whether it's due to our jobs, our union activism, or both. Join us for a thoughtful and compassionate discussion of how we can address burnout on an individual and a group level, and how we can organize ourselves so that our work can be sustained.
This workshop will start with a short poem by Katie Giede, Union of Southern Service Workers.
Corporate logos decked out in rainbows for Pride month don’t mean businesses are actually looking out for queer and trans people. How do we move beyond visibility and representation toward material gains? LGBTQ workers can bridge the gap, bringing community muscle into unions and vice versa. Hear from workers who are unionizing queer workplaces, building mutual aid networks to support queer and trans community, and sustaining queer economies.
Big mergers and corporate consolidation are opportunities for companies to cash in big, but often threaten workers and consumers alike. Hear how unions in the railroad, grocery, health care, and news media industries have navigated mergers.
