Conf. Ann: Scholars and Labor Practitioners Meet in June to Plan Joint Activities
Dear Colleague:
As agitation for workers' rights picks up momentum (in sectors such as fast food, retail, adjunct teaching, and low-wage service industries), and worker centers attract more attention as an important locus for empowering immigrant workers, scholars and graduate students are increasing the research and assistance they are providing to worker and union organizing struggles. One expression of this upsurge in scholarly engagement with worker organizing is the growth of the *Labor Research and Action Network*.
The LRAN was established in 2011 by academics, union leaders and staff, and progressive non-profits to connect scholars who are conducting cutting edge research with organizers and worker organizations that are involved in cutting edge campaigns. LRAN exists to generate fresh thinking and disseminate innovative strategies. It is cultivating the next generation of scholars to carry forward this engagement.
We invite you to attend the 2013 Labor Research and Action Network annual conference at the Georgetown Law Center in Washington, DC, on June 18-19, 2013. To review the detailed agenda of the conference and register, see the LRAN website:
http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=G%2BpcVQkCZvxZuK%2B8cetBouj…
The conference will follow a fairly traditional format, with plenty of time to learn more about the activities of LRAN and network with fellow participants. Plenary sessions will include notable speakers such as Douglas Blackman, author of Slavery by Another Name;
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka;
Saru Jayaraman, co-founder of ROC-United;
and Linda Burnham of the National Domestic Workers Alliance.
More than a dozen workshop panels will tackle cutting-edge topics such as comprehensive and innovative organizing campaigns; the evolution of worker centers; immigration reform and its implications for organizing; building union-community coalitions; new strategies for organizing low-wage workers; organizing for respect at Walmart; academics engaging communities through research; strategies for labor law reform; and organizing young workers for the future of the labor movement. The conference will include a "listening session" in which participants will provide input to the AFL-CIO about how unions need to change to grow and prosper.
As John Logan of San Francisco State University declared in one email: "As a whole, the program looks way more interesting than most academic conferences I attend."
Please consider joining us for this event.
Best,
Dan Marschall
AFL-CIO Policy Department and
George Washington University
[Cross-posted, with thanks, from H-Labor]