Today, the following action sessions are taking place from 12:30–2 p.m. PDT. Check out the schedule below, and don't forget to live-tweet using the hashtag #aflcio13:

Alt-Labor: Building Union–Worker Center Partnerships 

Room 408-B

Over the past decade, worker center and other nonunion worker groups have evolved as new frontiers in labor organizing, often working with low-wage and immigrant workers. Labor leaders have been instrumental partners in helping build innovative collaborations with worker centers.

This panel features labor and worker center leaders talking about best practices and exploring the challenges and obstacles in deepening worker center-union partnerships. 

Moderator: Jennifer Angarita, National Worker Center Partnership Coordinator, AFL-CIO 

Speakers:

• James Haslam, Executive Director, Vermont Worker Center

• Ben Johnson, President, Vermont State Labor Council

• Hilary Stern, Executive Director, Casa Latina

• Jeff Johnson, President, Washington State Labor Council

Bangladesh Fire and Safety Accord: A New Standard in Global Framework Agreements?

Room 405

When the Rana Plaza garment factory collapse killed more than 1,100 workers, the tragedy set off a wave of activism and a push for meaningful and enforceable safety standards for workers producing apparel for the global marketplace. In May 2013 Global Union Federations, local unions and multinational brands entered into the Accord on Building and Fire Safety in Bangladesh, which contains significant elements for implementation and enforcement. Along with Bangladeshi organizations, several international organizations played an important role in demanding and negotiating the accord language, setting a standard for implementation and enforcement not previously seen in global agreements with multinational employers. Presenters in this panel will examine the accord content, the negotiation process to reach agreement with the initial signatories, the campaign efforts to move U.S. brands to sign the accord and potential lessons for global organizing campaigns aimed to build power for workers employed by multinationals or their suppliers. 

Moderator: Ben Davis, International Affairs Director, USW 

Speakers:

• Scott Nova, Executive Director, Worker Rights Consortium

• Garrett Strain, International Campaigns Coordinator, United Students Against Sweatshops

• Owen Herrnstadt, Director of International Affairs, IAM

• Kalpona Akter, Executive Director, Bangladesh Center for Worker Solidarity

Fighting for Health Care in the Age of the Affordable Care Act

Room 408-A 

Participants in this session will identify the challenges to providing affordable, quality health coverage after the enactment of the Affordable Care Act. There will be a particular focus on how employers are responding to the new health law and the potential impact on workers’ health benefits. Participants will identify critical ways to fight for health coverage in bargaining and through advocacy.

Moderators: Karin Feldman and Shaun O’Brien, AFL-CIO

Speakers:

• Randy DeFrehn, Executive Director, National Coordinating Committee of Multiemployer Plans

• Ken Jacobs, Chair, Center for Labor Research and Education, UC Berkeley

• Angie Wei, Legislative Director, California Labor Federation

• Matt Schlobohm, Executive Director, Maine AFL-CIO

Global Approaches to Building Worker Power

Room 306-A/B 

Sharan Burrow, the general secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), in her leadership role as the head of the world’s largest trade union organization representing 174 million workers in 156 countries, has led the ITUC to take on the challenge of building organizing capacity in every region of the world. In her presentation, she will discuss the efforts to move the ITUC and its affiliates toward an organizing and campaign-based model, working closely with the Global Union Federations and the ITUC affiliates. She will describe the framework of organizing for power and will host four ITUC affiliates who will present case studies of organizing for power in their home countries of Nigeria, Indonesia, Hong Kong and Burma.

Moderator and Keynote Speaker: Sharan Burrow, General Secretary, International Trade Union Confederation

Speakers: 

• Lee Cheuk Yan, General Secretary and Hong Kong Legislative Councillor (New Territories West), Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions

• Said Iqbal, President, Confederation of Indonesian Trade Unions (KSPI)

• U Maung Maung, General Secretary, Federation of Trade Unions—Myanmar

• Ayuba Wabba, National Treasurer and Chairman of Organizing, Nigeria Labor Congress

How the Trans-Pacific Partnership (a Supersized NAFTA) Will Impact You as a Worker and What You Can Do About It!

Room 404-B

This workshop will teach you about the impacts of U.S. trade policy and the likely effects of the Trans-Pacific (TPP). It will show you how to make the most of your video, email and Internet resources to educate and mobilize your members and the general public on the TPP and the reasons workers globally need a new trade model. Employing electronic communications strategies can help build relationships across international borders—speeding and easing communication and cooperation in ways that weren’t possible during the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) fight 20 years ago. Make your efforts to build shared prosperity in the global economy more efficient and more effective with this workshop.

Moderator and Speaker: Celeste Drake, Policy Specialist for Trade and International Economics, Policy Department, AFL-CIO

Speakers:

• Kristen Beifus, Executive Director, Washington Fair Trade Coalition

• Taren Stinebrickner-Kauffman, Executive Director, Sum of Us

Lessons in Women’s Leadership: ‘Leaning In’ the Labor Way

Solidarity Stage 1 

Women don’t simply need to “lean in” to the leadership challenge—they need to organize. This session will build on a theory of women’s leadership development and turn it into action. AFSCME Secretary-Treasurer Laura Reyes and New Mexico Federation of Labor Secretary-Treasurer Maxine Velasquez will lead the session, looking at the structural supports and programs that develop women leaders and surfacing the personal commitments men and women of the labor movement can make to support that change. This session is intended to start a national dialogue on women’s leadership, beginning with practical steps participants can take back home.

Moderator and Facilitator: Prairie Wells, Governance, Organizational and Leadership Development, Campaigns Department, AFL-CIO

Speakers:

• Laura Reyes, Secretary-Treasurer, AFSCME

• Maxine Velasquez, Secretary-Treasurer, New Mexico Federation of Labor

• Connie Mabin, Director of New Media and Next Generation, USW

Link Up with China’s Workers Around Common Issues in the Global Economy

Room 406-B

This session will focus on ways in which U.S. unions are connecting with collective bargaining in the world’s largest working class, as U.S. and Chinese workers face some of the same employers and confront common issues in the global economy. China’s industrial workers are standing up and demanding better wages and improved conditions. Katie Quan and Kent Wong have been at the forefront of organizing Asian American workers and linking the U.S. labor movement with counterparts in China. Stephanie Tang is the UAW Global Organizing Institute China director. In a panel discussion, they will highlight collective bargaining developments in China, and how U.S. unions can build useful relationships with counterparts in China. Learn how to connect with Chinese workers and unions.

Moderator: Earl Brown, China Program Director, AFL-CIO Solidarity Center

Speakers:

• Katie Quan, Associate Chair, UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education, and

  Co-Director, International Center for Joint Labor Research at Sun Yat-sen University

• Kent Wong, Director, UCLA Center for Labor Research and Education

• Stephanie Tang, China Director, Global Organizing Institute, UAW

Mass Incarceration and the Labor Movement Analysis 

Room 406-A

“Prosperity for All” cannot occur when millions are impacted by a criminal justice system that imprisons hundreds of thousands of people and—in the name of privatization—violates a public trust to enrich the private prison industry. According to the Population Reference Bureau, the United States has the largest prison population in the world and the highest rate of incarceration (number of prisoners per 100,000 persons). This reality of mass incarceration brings irrevocable harm to working people as families with loved ones who are either behind bars or cannot find decent employment upon release and as taxpayers who see their tax dollars put into jails instead of schools, affordable housing, better transportation, and a cleaner environment. The reality of states subcontracting what should be a public system to the for-profit prison industry incentives profits over justice and leads to overcrowding and inhumane conditions. This Action Session will begin the process of developing a labor movement analysis of mass incarceration that outlines how union members are affected by mass incarceration outside the workplace as their families and neighborhoods are impacted and inside the workplace as their unions are involved in the criminal justice system or perform work that can address the causes and consequences of mass incarceration.  

Moderator: Professor Steven Pitts, UC Berkeley Labor Center

Speakers:

• Donald Cohen, Executive Director, In the Public Interest
• Carmen Berkley, Director Civil, Human, Women’s Rights, AFL-CIO
• Robert Rooks, Organizing Director, Californians for Safety and Justice
• William Spriggs, Chief Economist, AFL-CIO

Organize the South: Why the South Matters to the Future of Labor

Room 308-A/B 

As the labor movement contemplates its future, we can look to the South for a glimpse of what that future might be. Workers in the South have the lowest wages, the fewest worker protections and the least union representation. For decades, southern states have been “right to work” for less states and have limited or denied their public employees the right to collectively bargain. Given the region’s culture and laws, unions have not invested heavily in organizing there. It is no surprise that voters in the South keep electing state and federal officials who vote time and again against workers’ interests. What happens in the South affects the nation, and the region’s influence will only grow as the South gains in both population and political representation. What does that mean for the labor movement and for workers?

Speakers:

• MaryBe McMillan, Secretary-Treasurer, North Carolina State AFL-CIO

• Dorothy Grant-Townsend, Southern Director, AFSCME

• Gary Casteel, Region 8 Director, UAW

• Baldemar Velásquez, President, FLOC

• Keith Maddox, Organizing Department, AFL-CIO

Organizing Workers and Immigration Reform: A Strategy Session 

Room 403-A 

This participatory session will bring together labor leadership and dynamic national immigrant rights groups to strategize around organizing immigrant workers. Together we will discuss what the world could look like with commonsense immigration reform and what steps labor can start to take now and until reform comes. This session will convey the extraordinary potential that immigration reform poses for growing the labor movement and building greater progressive worker power. Guest speakers will share current labor and community efforts under way to plan for legalization of about 5 million to 7 million people who may become eligible under legislative reform. We will highlight national coordination efforts to provide competent and much-needed services that will organize and empower workers through strategic grassroots collaborations. Finally, we will strategize concrete steps labor can take to further mobilize and advocate for policy reforms that move legislation forward and uplift the immigrant population, such as ending deportation and expanding deferred action. At the same time, at least 4 million to 5 million people are likely to be excluded from the benefits of legislative reform, and labor must support ongoing efforts to help organize and empower this group by deepening our partnerships with immigrant worker organizations. By collaborating with networks of grassroots community groups and national service providers, the labor movement could help change the current political landscape and greatly expand worker power.

Moderator: Ana Avendaño, Assistant to the President for Immigration and Community Action, AFL-CIO

Speakers:

• Tefere Gebre, Executive Director, Orange Country Labor Federation

• Chris Newman, Legal Director, NDLON

• Andrew Friedman, Executive Director, The Center for Popular Democracy

• Aquilina Soriano, Filipino Workers Center, NDWA

• Cristina Tzintzun, Executive Director, Workers Defense Project (Tentative)

• Christian Torres, UNITE HERE Local 11 (Tentative)

Power Through Diversity: Strategize with Constituency Groups for a More Inclusive Labor Movement!

Solidarity Stage 2 

Join a strategy session with members of the Labor Coalition for Community Action (LCCA) on the role of constituency groups in a time when the labor movement is facing demographic shifts and decreasing density and is forging stronger relationships with the broader progressive movement. The constituency groups within LCCA represent the diverse communities within the labor movement, striving to raise those voices and to mobilize together for a stronger movement for all working people. Members of LCCA include: A. Philip Randolph Institute, Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, Coalition of Labor Union Women, Labor Council for Latin American Advancement and Pride at Work.

Moderator: Gregory A. Cendana, Chair, LCCA 

Speakers:

• Johanna Puno Hester, President, APALA

• Clayola Brown, President, APRI

• Terry Melvin, President, CBTU

• Carol Rosenblatt, Executive Director, CLUW

• Milton Rosado, President, LCLAA

• Darren Phelps, Executive Director, Pride at Work

Show It, Don’t Say It! 10 Ways to Change How People See Unions

Room 402-A 

It’s no secret that many people have little or no exposure to unions. They buy into the stereotypes about unions or they simply feel no connection. How do we cut through hostility and indifference? What are the best ways to communicate with key audiences that are especially open to unions—young people, African American workers, Latino workers and women? It’s time to reintroduce unions to America—by what we do every day. Learn 10 things to do to change how people see unions. See best practices from affiliate unions, state federations and central labor councils. And hear what testing shows are the most compelling social media messages from one of the country’s leading social media strategists.

Speakers:

• Liz Shuler, Secretary-Treasurer, AFL-CIO

• Brandon Weber, Curator of Workonomics, Upworthy

• Christopher Policano, Director of Communications, AFSCME

The Labor Movement’s Campaign to Raise Wages

Room 403-B 

This session will highlight the central importance of raising wages to fix what is wrong with the U.S.economy, and will focus on the indispensable role of the labor movement in raising wages and labor standards for everyone who works in America. The session will highlight successful campaigns to raise wages and labor standards—including campaigns to organize workers, provide for a living wage, raise the minimum wage for tipped and non-tipped workers and provide for paid sick days. Attendees will learn about tactics and strategies around communications, social media, popular mobilization and community partnerships that were especially successful in these campaigns. Audience members from affiliates, departments and community partners then will discuss their past work in raising wages and living standards in an interactive discussion and will identify their priorities in a broad campaign to raise wages. The session will conclude with planning next steps for the Raising Wages Campaign.

Moderator: Kelly Ross, Deputy Policy Director, AFL-CIO

Speakers:

• David Boundy, Director, Campaigns Department, AFL-CIO

• Shomari Davis, Business Representative, IBEW Local 11

• Saru Jayaraman, Co-Director, Restaurant Opportunities Center

• Derek Smith, Political Director, UNITE HERE Local 11

• Nikki Budzinski, Political Director, UFCW

This Is NOT What Democracy Looks Like! The Democracy Initiative 

Room 402-B 

The Democracy Initiative brings together a diverse coalition of organizations uniting to take the money out and put the people back into our democracy. The focus is on breaking the influence of corporate money in politics, voting rights and building a broad movement to break down the barriers to progress on our core issues of good jobs, health care and bargaining rights. The Democracy Initiative is working on issues like changing the Senate rules at the federal level and defending the right to vote at the state level through local coalitions. Come hear CWA President Larry Cohen discuss this important effort to reclaim our democracy and learn about how you can get involved.

Speakers:

• Larry Cohen, President, CWA

• Marissa Brown, Executive Director, Democracy Initiative

Twitter 101: Getting Started

Boots Online Digital Booth

Twitter is the new telephone—when something gets shared on Twitter, it spreads like wildfire, and you don’t want to be left out of the conversation. If you don’t know anything about Twitter, this is the session for you. We’ll walk through step by step how you create a Twitter account and give you some tips to start loving social media.

Speakers:

• Randi Weingarten, President, AFT

• Danielle Hatchett, Social Media, AFL-CIO

Workers’ Voice: An Independent Movement to Elect Progressives

Room 404-A 

In 2012, the AFL-CIO took a bold step of forming “Workers’ Voice,” a labor super PAC charged with redirecting resources back to the labor movement and away from the traditional political party system. Through this new vehicle the unions of the AFL-CIO rebuilt labor’s campaign infrastructure on the ground, initiated innovative new tactics, deployed new technologies and reignited an independent political movement aimed at uniting all workers—union and nonunion—to win meaningful political and policy victories. This panel will discuss this new approach and the future of Workers’ Voice.

Moderator: Lee Saunders, President, AFSCME 

Speakers:

• Michael Podhorzer, Political Director, AFL-CIO

• Nicole Aro, Director of Digital Strategies, AFL-CIO