Workshops

PROGRAMMATIC WORKSHOPS

These workshops will be offered twice during the District Meetings.

STATE AND LOCAL LEGISLATION: TAKE CHARGE OF YOUR CAPITOL AND WIN FOR WORKERS

There’s a saying in organizing: If workers have a little bit of power, workers win a little bit of justice. How do we build, and exercise, more power—in widely divergent political climates—to win more justice for workers? In the context of the local and regional political landscape, in this session we will map out why we win, why we lose and how to shift from reactive legislative work to agenda-driving. We will discuss varied legislative strategies to support the right to organize, expand collective bargaining rights, build investment in and leverage for good union jobs and more. Bring your local priorities, your innovative ideas, your best victories and your biggest challenges. Together, we will talk through how to plan longer-term legislative strategies to win more justice for workers.

PRESENTERS
Tiffany Heath (Southern, Southwest)
Peggy Shorey (Western, Northeast, Great Lakes)
Christine Silvia-DeGennaro (Midwest)

Res. 1: Workers' Bill of Rights

Res. 2: An Independent Political Voice

ELECTING UNION MEMBERS—BUILDING OUR POWER

When union members hold public office, all working families win. Join the Union Member Candidate Program Workshop to learn how to identify union-dense winnable races and union members from your ranks who have what it takes to be successful candidates. We’ll also explore the national AFL-CIO’s member-to-member electoral program; a winning strategy to elect our own.

PRESENTER
Charles Wowkanech

Res. 10: Encouraging Union Members to Run for Public Office

REVERSE THE DECLINE IN UNION DENSITY—GOALS THAT MATTER

No one-size-fits-all approach will solve the crisis in union density, but we all must take responsibility for growing our portion of the labor movement. This workshop will examine trends in union organizing and union density. What’s behind the numbers and what does it all mean?  Participants will work in small groups on a goal-setting exercise related to their part of the labor movement—state federations, central labor councils or local unions. Let’s discuss our role and the concrete steps we can take together to win!

PRESENTERS 
Julie Farb (Southern, Northeast)
Carlos Jimenez (Western, Midwest)
Raquel Murillo (Southwest)
Christian Sweeney (Great Lakes)

Res. 3: Engaging Our Members to Build Strong Unions

Res. 4: Organizing to Win Power for Working People

Res. 15: Prioritizing Organizing and Growth of Affiliate Unions

POWER TO WIN—WORKSITE ORGANIZING PROGRAMS THAT DELIVER

Harness the power of union members and take it to the street, the statehouse and the ballot box! This workshop reinforces the tools and skills critical to building a winning local union member-to-member engagement program. Recruit hoards of activists. Understand what motivates your members and find common issues that inspire people to collective action. Participants will apply their own experience and work in small groups to directly connect internal organizing work to legislative and political results.

PRESENTER
Charles Handel Lundy

Res. 3: Engaging Our Members to Build Strong Unions

COMMUNICATING ABOUT LABOR IN 2019

The AFL-CIO Communications Resource will provide comprehensive training for all skill levels covering traditional media, social media, graphic design, and iPhone photos and video. Consistent throughout the training will be the importance and best practices for ensuring message discipline across all communications. Using real-life examples, you will learn the keys of using communications to support effective campaigns and outreach, while increasing efficiency. And you will learn how social media is a crucial way of communicating most effectively and directly. Participants will leave the training with templates, tips and the confidence to perform communications tasks needed to be successful.

PRESENTERS 
Carolyn Bobb (Western, Great Lakes)
Josh Goldstein (Midwest, Southwest)
Amber Sparks (Southern, Northeast)

TECHNOLOGY AND DATA TOOLS

What is the Data, Analytics and Infrastructure Resource (DAIR)? What does it do? This workshop will introduce all the moving parts of the DAIR department at the AFL-CIO, how DAIR builds member engagement tools with unions and power for our labor movement. Attendees will have the opportunity to hear about the membership engagement tools DAIR builds and manages, from LAN to UnionHall to Action Network, and how these tools all work together. During the workshop, there also will be a chance to see what’s happening with Action Builder—the new organizing tool launching with national unions across the country—which is exactly the kind of collaborative tool DAIR wants to continue to create and launch, with and for unions.

PRESENTERS 
Michelle Penson (Western, Southern, Northeast, Southwest)
Andy Richards (Midwest, Great Lakes)

Res. 5: Commission on the Future of Work and Unions

HOLDING THE 116TH CONGRESS ACCOUNTABLE

Working families won major electoral victories in 2018, sweeping into power the largest class of labor-friendly representatives since Watergate. Now it’s time to hold them accountable for creating good jobs, strengthening unions, securing our health care and pensions, and fixing our trade and immigration policies. This workshop will focus on our legislative priorities for the 116th Congress. We’ll get an update about what’s happening on Capitol Hill and share ideas about how we can have the biggest impact on the men and women we sent to Washington in 2019.

PRESENTERS 
Celeste Drake (Midwest)
Cathy Feingold (Great Lakes)
Bill Samuel (Western, Southern)

Res. 1: Workers' Bill of Rights

Res. 2: An Independent Political Voice


UNION ECONOMY WORKSHOPS

These workshops will be offered once during the District Meetings.

MEMBERSHIP HAS ITS BENEFITS: MAXIMIZING THE UNION’S VALUE WITH UNION PLUS, AMERICAN INCOME LIFE, AND BANK OF LABOR

It’s likely that your organizers and union representatives may be underplaying what your union has to offer members. Get right to the heart of “what’s in it for me?” with this update on new member benefits available from Union Plus and the new Union Plus Mortgage Company. Learn how your members can achieve a free college education, get special assistance when they buy a home and save money on everyday items—and learn how the labor movement benefits when they do. Benefits are increasingly important to your membership recruiting and retention efforts. In this workshop, learn how to speak confidently about valuable member benefits.

In addition, learn to harness the power of your union’s capital by banking, borrowing and investing with a union-owned and -operated bank. Let us show you the Bank of Labor difference—and the benefits of consolidating labor’s capital to become a powerful tool to help advance labor’s goals. This discussion will provide resources to help you understand and learn how banks use union funds to often work against our interests, rather than working for us. This discussion will cover exciting options, strategies and best practices to grow and protect your union’s assets, while saving you valuable time and money, and other ways in which our partnership can expand opportunities that align with our shared values




INVESTING IN OURSELVES: THE AFL-CIO HOUSING INVESTMENT TRUST, AFL-CIO BUILDING INVESTMENT TRUST, AND ULLICO—HARNESSING PENSION CAPITAL FOR REAL ESTATE DEVELOPMENT AND UNION JOB CREATION

The traditional tools for the labor movement to affect change have largely been collective action, organizing, strikes and other bargaining tools. However, the power of labor’s pension capital can be a powerful tool to help advance labor’s goals.

The AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust (HIT), AFL-CIO Building Investment Trust (BIT), and ULLICO have been investing union pension capital through this three-dimensional lens for more than 30 years. This conversation will allow you to understand the nature and impact of the investments made by HIT, BIT and ULLICO, and how you can integrate your local priorities with our work and allow us to understand local dynamics in your communities around the demand for affordable housing, the use of union labor in residential and commercial construction, and other ways in which we can work together on our collective objectives.

The discussion also will cover the new and exciting ways in which we are working to expand the number and types of investment options that align with our values.

 

WORKING AMERICA: THE LABOR MOVEMENT’S BRIDGE TO COMMUNITY

When the labor movement has the support of the community, including workers who don’t yet have the benefit of a union on the job, we have more power to make a difference for members, winning greater economic and political power. Since 2003, Working America has been the labor movement’s bridge to the community, helping win hundreds of elections, directly organize over 10,000 workers to join an affiliate union and move more than 3.3 million workers to believe in the strength of collective action. Join the Working America workshop on ways to make community outreach efforts deliver for union growth, political wins and worker base-building.

PRESENTERS 
Phaedra Jackson (Southern, Northeast)
Jenn Jannon-Fischer (Great Lakes)
Matt Morrison (Western)
Kevin Pape (Midwest, Southwest)


WORKFORCE ISSUES AND STRONGER UNIONS

Workforce development, an issue that used to be a main concern of unions and educators, is now debated by everyone—but not necessarily in a way that is positive for unions and workers. How do we use training and apprenticeship to strengthen and grow unions?

In this interactive workshop, we will learn about the best models and practices for unions to strengthen their role in skills programs that help union employers stay competitive and increase the value of union membership to the members. The resources available to unions, include labor-based workforce intermediaries, labor–management partnerships and workforce development boards.

  • What are the best practices for workforce intermediaries?
  • What are the public policy goals that unions should adopt at the state and federal levels? How do we insure that the labor movement is included when these decisions are made?

PRESENTER
Brad Markell


THE AFL-CIO AND UNITED WAY PARTNERSHIP: MAKING IT STRONGER FOR GREATER IMPACT IN OUR COMMUNITIES

The AFL-CIO–United Way partnership was created more than 75 years ago. We share a common vision of prosperous, inclusive, diverse and safe communities, where every member of the community has access to quality public education, fair wages, productive work opportunities and accessible, affordable, comprehensive health care.

A key component of our partnership is a network of more than 100 labor liaisons and labor agency staff who bridge the labor and United Way communities, raise funds to support United Way and develop programs to meet the needs of working families in their communities, such as workforce development and member engagement programs.

In this workshop, we’ll discuss strategies and best practices for strengthening local AFL-CIO–United Way partnerships and developing collaborative programs that address critical issues in our communities.

PRESENTER
Yael Foa

COMMON SENSE ECONOMICS—ENGAGING MEMBERS: TOOLS FOR LOCAL UNIONS, STATE FEDERATIONS AND CENTRAL LABOR COUNCILS

The economy is not like the weather! This webinar will focus on tools to educate members on the issues that matter to them and how the economic realities of our time shape our workplaces and communities. Common Sense Economics shows workers that they can change the rules of the economy by acting together to create an economy that works for everyone.

PRESENTERS 
Josh Anijar (Western)
Artie Blanco (Southwest)
Pablo DeLeon (Southern)
Juanita Sanchez (Northeast)
Samantha Trueblood (Great Lakes)
Jocelyn Woodards (Midwest)

 

LOOK OUTDOORS TO ENGAGE, ORGANIZE AND WIN!

This unique and effective tool will help you connect with and inspire your members who enjoy the outdoors to action. We will help you empower and equip your members to use Union Sportsmen’s Alliance programs, events and activities to their full advantage in member engagement and organizing.

Learn how to:

  • Take advantage of existing USA events or host your own Union and the Outdoors Meet activity. 
  • Show communities there is value in organized labor as a corporate and community citizen and  partner.
  • Do something good for your members and their families, and "change the relationship-change the local" through internal union-outreach activities.
  • Neutralize outside forces who are resisting new unions through conservation and community outreach projects.