UMass Boston

Call for Proposals 2026 Boston Labor Conference

BOSTON LABOR CONFERENCE

(March 28, 2026)

CALL FOR PROPOSALS - DUE NOVEMBER 21^st

Labor Against Authoritarianism: What Can We Do?

It was clear from the start that Trump’s second term was not going to be like the first. Attacks on basic rights, democratic norms, and public goods were immediate and wide-ranging and have continued to expand in unpredictable and disorienting ways over the past year. Assaults on labor have included the gutting of the National Labor Relations Board, the elimination of collective bargaining rights for nearly one million federal workers, violent raids on immigrant workers on the job and in their homes, and summary firings of working people for constitutionally protected speech. This unrelenting assault has forced us to fight innumerable defensive battles while also trying to mobilize an effective opposition.

The fact of Trump’s re-election itself casts the challenges we face in stark relief. In the face of class dealignment and frustration with government institutions that serve only the powerful, how can we not only defend democratic institutions but give substance to their promise to protect and advance the interests of working people? How, in the largest sense, can labor articulate a vision for the future as we fight back against rising authoritarianism?

With an eye towards surviving and defeating Trumpism while forging a broad-based movement, the tenth annual Boston Labor Conference examines the array of attacks faced by working people since the start of 2025 while also exploring the various ways in which they have fought back.

In addition to sweeping analyses that attempt to make sense of Trump’s second term on a broad level, we welcome proposals for papers/presentations that offer historical perspectives and critical analysis across a range of areas related to the ongoing attack and defense of: democracy and government, a more just economy, immigrants, labor unions, public education, healthcare, LBGTQ+ communities, the media, the legal system, the environment, basic personal freedoms, and so on.

To submit a proposal to give a presentation at the Boston Labor Conference on March 28 (2026), please send a (a) very short CV (or just tell us about yourself) and (b) one-page abstract of the proposed paper/presentation by November 21st to laborresourcecenter@umb.edu and steve.striffler@umb.edu. 

For those outside of Boston, please apply for conference funding by including a rough budget of expenses to attend the conference.

Labor and the Left Saturday, March 8, 2025 8:30 AM - 5 PM Carpenters Center Boston Training Facility 750 Dorchester Avenue Dorchester, MA 02125

The Ninth Annual Boston Labor Conference explores the role of “the Left,” broadly defined, in building and shaping the labor movement. Our current moment of labor agitation is characterized by increased militancy, new forms of organizing (in sectors new and old), and the return of the strike. What has, is, and should be the role of the Left during a moment in which the labor movement seems well positioned -- if not yet fully able -- to organize more workers, lead militant actions, and build winning political coalitions rooted in a politics of and for the working class?

What role has the Left played in recent efforts to transform labor unions into more effective vehicles for organizing, mobilizing, and fighting for working people? How has the left contributed to the “new” organizing we have seen in sectors with little historic union presence? In what ways has (and has not) the Left been able to shape public debate – and how has this mattered?  The renewed influence of the Left in the labor movement has come about, in part, thanks to new organizing and institution-building on the Left itself. How have, and how do, we rebuild the Left within and outside of labor organizations as a force that can help strengthen and advance the labor movement as a whole?

Join us on March 8th for this important conversation.

Boston Labor Conference - Labor and the Left Program

8:30–9:00           Light Breakfast

9:00–9:20           Opening Remarks         

                                 Steve Striffler, Labor Resource Center, UMass Boston

                                 Chrissy Lynch, President, Massachusetts AFL-CIO

9:30–11:00          Session One 

1A:   Leftists in the Higher Ed Strike Wave        (Anne Boyd)

• Jack Davies  (Georgetown University, Long-Haul Magazine, DSA)
• Fern Grear (Columbia University, SWC-UAW 2710, DSA)
• Joseph Guidry (Boston University, SEIU 509, DSA)
• Alex Michaud  (DSA)
• Lucy Peterson (Univ. of Michigan, Long-Haul Magazine, GEO-AFT 3550, DSA)
• Rendi Rogers (DSA)        

1B:   Labor, Immigration, and Internationalism     (Steve Striffler)

• Jeff Schuhrke (Harry Van Arsdale Jr. School of Labor Studies, SUNY)
• Gerry Scoppettuolo (Pride at Work/Eastern Massachusetts AFL-CIO) Gene Bruskin (National Writers Union/Dramatist Guild)
• Ismael Garcia-Colon (CUNY)

11:00 – 11:15   BREAK

11:15 – 12:45     Session Two

2A: Labor and the Left – Lessons from Our Past         (Lew Finfer)

• Enid Ekstein (Raise Up Massachusetts)
• Mark Erlich (Harvard University)
• Andrew Higgins (Independent Scholar)

2B:  Left Labor Education                          (Anneta Argyres)

• Margarita Hernandez (Grassroots Power Project)
• Daniel Judt (Yale University)
• Hae-Lin Choi (Communications Workers of America, District 1)
• Alethia Jones (CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies)

12:45 – 1:45       LUNCH 

1:45 – 3:15         Session Three

3A:  Labor and the Left in Our Two-Party System      (Caleb Smith)

• Daraka Larimore-Hall (UC-Santa Barbara)
• Robert Cassanello (University of Central Florida)
• Alejandro Reuss (UMass Boston)

3B:  Building Political Power     (Georgia Hollister Isman)

• Jeff Crosby (New Lynn Coalition and North Shore Labor Council) 
• Steve Paul  (Executive Director, OnePA)
• Maurice Mitchell (National Director, Working Families Party)

3:15-3:30            BREAK

3:30 – 5:00         Session Four        

 4:   Labor and the Left – Looking Forward  (Nick Juravich)

• Dylan Hatch (Cornell University)
• Union Representative (TBD), (Association of Flight Attendants),
• Jonathan Rosenblum (Center for Work & Democracy, Arizona St. Univ)
• Jessica Tang (President, AFT Massachusetts)
• Maurice Mitchell, (National Director, Working Families Party)

5:00 – 5:30         REFRESHMENTS