Solidarity Forever at the 2022 Labor Notes Conference

BY LILY HUANG, MASS JWJ CO-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Wow! What an amazing weekend. Thank you to all Labor Notes staff, organizers, leaders, and activists– more than 4,000 troublemakers– who converged at the 2022 Labor Notes conference in Chicago June 17-19.

Massachusetts Jobs with Justice Co-Executive Directors Alicia Fleming and myself attended the Labor Notes conference last month. It was my first Labor Notes conference and the first for Alicia as well. Alicia brought her son Alex who celebrated his 10th birthday on Juneteenth in Chicago and I brought Violeta who is two years old. It is important for our organization to be able to support our moms and caregivers to be able to bring our children to work events and conferences.

At Labor Notes, there was an amazing group of union activists and community leaders from across Massachusetts and across the country and world. We built community and broke bread together. We strategized for our important upcoming campaigns ahead to advance economic, racial, and reproductive justice. We reunited with our favorite people, leaders, organizers and activists from the National Jobs with Justice network.

There were an amazing series of workshops and speakers. My favorite workshop was the Starbucks Workers United panel where workers spoke about their organizing and unionizing experience in the stores. They shared victories and struggles from across the country. One worker talked about how she was called into the office every day and her solace and support was her fellow co-worker and Organizing lead who would be on the phone with her for hours and told her that he was always there for her. I’m so inspired by the courage and boldness of these Starbucks workers and I hope that this fight fuels the next generation of labor activists and new organizing.

The main sessions, a few of the biggest panels, and the concert were livestreamed by Labor Notes and are available. Click the link below to browse the videos, starting with the Friday night Main Session, which featured:

  • Stacy Davis Gates, president-elect, Chicago Teachers Union

  • Nolan Tabb, John Deere striker, Auto Workers/Unite All Workers for Democracy

  • Dilson Hernandez, musician and hip hop artist

  • Sean O’Brien, president, Teamsters

  • Michelle Eisen, Starbucks Workers United

  • Chris Smalls, president, Amazon Labor Union

  • Bernie Sanders, U.S. Senator

Lily Huang