2022 Labor Notes Conference: June 17-19, Chicago

Videos from the Conference

The 2022 Labor Notes Conference was amazing and broke all previous records with 4,000 participants. Check out the videos from the livestreamed sessions.

REGISTRATION IS CLOSED!

Due to overwhelming interest, we have closed registration for the Labor Notes Conference. Please stay in touch with us by joining our e-mail list, and stay tuned for more events down the line!

NEW: CONFERENCE PROGRAM!

The full, incredible lineup is available as a PDF or an interactive schedule app.

The 2022 Labor Notes Conference is coming up soon. Registration is now closed.

WHEN: Friday, June 17, 9 a.m. - Sunday, June 19, 3 p.m.

WHERE: Hyatt Regency O’Hare at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport

Due to overwhelming interest, we have closed registration for the Labor Notes Conference. Please stay in touch with us by joining our e-mail list, and stay tuned for more events down the line!

The Labor Notes Conference is the biggest gathering out there of grassroots union activists, worker center leaders, and all-around troublemakers.

• Join thousands of union members, officers, and labor activists who are on the front lines in our workplaces and our communities, organizing new workers and agitating together. Meet troublemakers from across the country and around the world.
• More than 100 meetings and workshops include creative organizing tactics, beating apathy, running for local union office, winning contract campaigns, understanding the economy, and reviving the strike.
• Organize with others in your union, industry, or campaign. Face-to-face meetings to share tactics and swap notes are the heart of the Labor Notes Conference. Join an existing industry, union, or caucus meeting—or contact us to set one up.

Please note that the Saturday night fundraising dinner is sold separately from registration for the conference.

Featuring the Great Labor Arts Exchange!

Every year the Labor Heritage Foundation organizes a national gathering of workplace activists, artists, and labor educators who are strengthening the movement with songs, poems, hip-hop, posters, cartoons, puppets, and more.

This year the Great Labor Arts Exchange is part of the Labor Notes Conference and included in your registration. Labor arts workshops and performances will be woven throughout the weekend.

For an extra helping of culture, you can also arrive early—we'll get started at 2 p.m. on Thursday, June 16. Email info[at]laborheritage[dot]org to learn more.

Song, Poem, and Hip-Hop Contest:

The Great Labor Arts Exchange's annual contest will be held live at Labor Notes on Friday night at 9 p.m. To enter, fill out this form. Limit one entry per registered conference participant. Cash prizes will be awarded in five categories by popular vote of the audience. The winners will perform in the Saturday night concert, which will also be livestreamed.

Labor Notes on Juneteenth!
The Juneteenth holiday celebrates the end of slavery in the U.S. It marks the anniversary of June 19, 1865, when word reached Galveston, Texas, of President Abraham Lincoln’s 1863 Emancipation Proclamation, though many enslaved African American workers across the South had already been emancipating themselves in what W.E.B. DuBois characterized as a general strike that won the Civil War. Last year, after decades of struggle, Juneteenth became the first new federal holiday since Martin Luther King Day was established in 1983; many unions are fighting for their members to have the day off. Today Black workers are more likely to be union members than any other group, and have often pushed forward workplace militancy. The confluence of Juneteenth and the Labor Notes Conference offers us an opportunity to celebrate the Black liberation movement, explore its connection to labor struggles throughout our history, and make connections and plans together to expand the power of labor to win racial justice.

HOTEL ROOMS: The conference hotel and our overflow hotels are sold out. There are many other hotels a short cab ride or drive away, and the conference hotel is a short walk from the CTA's Rosemont Blue Line station with connections throughout Chicago.

Covid vaccination required: For everyone’s safety, to attend the 2022 Labor Notes Conference you must show proof you are fully vaccinated against Covid. After you register, we will ask you to email us a picture of your vaccination card. If you are registering for others to attend, you can send in the vaccine card photos for your whole group or ask participants to send the photos directly to us at vax[at]labornotes[dot]org. Any person who does not provide this proof in advance will not be allowed to attend. See below for more details on Covid protocols.

Livestream: Can't make it to Chicago this year? Main sessions, the concert, and selected other sessions throughout the weekend will be broadcast online through Labor Notes social media channels.

Air Travel: Fly to Chicago O’Hare (ORD). There is a free shuttle to the hotel.

Childcare: Available for children over 1 year old. Request by May 15. Donations appreciated. Email barbara[at]labornotes[dot]org with request.

Accessibility: Labor Notes is enthusiastic about hosting inclusive, accessible events that enable all workers, including people with disabilities, to fully engage. Please let us know in advance if there are any specific adjustments we need to make to allow you to fully participate in the conference. Contact Sarah by June 1 at sarah[at]labornotes[dot]org.

International Attendees: Coming from somewhere other than the U.S. or Canada? Buy a Saturday night fundraising dinner ticket here. We also ask that you fill out this form to help us with planning.

Questions? Email conference[at]labornotes[dot]org or call 718-284-4144.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

What COVID prevention measures or requirements will there be?

Labor Notes is taking a number of steps to ensure the conference is as safe as possible. We decided to move the conference to June—when we hope the number of Covid cases will have declined further. We have worked with a local health and safety expert to review the hotel’s ventilation and filtration systems. In addition to following all federal and state regulations in effect at the time of the conference, we have established additional protocols to do our best to keep everyone safe at this one-of-a-kind gathering of thousands of labor activists.

Required

• For the June 2022 conference, we will be requiring everyone who attends to be vaccinated. After you register, we will ask you to email us a picture of your vaccination card. If you are registering for others to attend, you can send in the vaccine card photos
  for your whole group or ask participants to send the photos directly to us at vax[at]labornotes[dot]org. Any person who does not provide this proof in advance will not be allowed to attend.
• Masks will be required indoors throughout the conference.

Suggested

• We strongly encourage everyone to get Covid-19 vaccine booster shots if and when they are available to you.
• Additionally, we encourage conference attendees to take a PCR test within three days before the conference if one is available in your local area. We also encourage you to take a test three days after you depart from the conference.

We look forward to seeing you in-person in Chicago.

We keep each other safe!

Registration Instructions

To register yourself for the Saturday Night Fundraising Dinner, select it in the menu below and click "add to cart."

Due to overwhelming interest, we have closed registration for the Labor Notes Conference. Please stay in touch with us by joining our e-mail list, and stay tuned for more events down the line!

Saturday night fundraising dinner tickets are still available for $65.