VIDEO: ‘The Place to Learn How to Fight’


“It’s not just about the workplace itself, but how do we make changes to policy, to the world, so that we’re all in a better place?” Our new video (above) features a few of the sharp and inspiring troublemakers you'll meet at the 2014 Labor Notes conference.

The people in this video are Labor Notes fans—the kind who are coming to our 2014 conference. You should, too.

Where else will you meet nurses who stopped a hospital from closing, Teamsters who tossed out old guard officials and are remaking their local, and transit workers joining with riders to defend the buses?

Where else can you compare notes with Hong Kong dockworkers who struck for 40 days, Brazilians who say the World Cup should benefit everyone, not just their 1%—and of course Chicago teachers, who are showing how to defend public schools from the privatizers who would destroy them?

Those are just a few of the people already registering for the conference, April 4-6 in Chicago.

People in Portland, Oregon, inspired by the Labor Notes Troublemakers School they put on last spring, are organizing to send 50 people. Reformers in the New York State Nurses are sending 30 new leaders to get a sense of what the labor movement can look like at its best.

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We expect big numbers of transit workers and postal activists, too, since reformers in both unions have taken over and are working hard to protect the public services they provide for the rest of us.

Let us know if you want brochures or other information from us to help get members of your group there.

But the first step is registering yourself, at labornotes.org/2014, before the early-bird discount expires February 15.

And if you’re looking for a worthy cause to give to this time of year, we could use your help to provide scholarships for young workers and those in low-paid jobs, who’ve been in the news for striking way more than anyone this year. We want plenty of fast foodies and Walmart workers on the scene.

See you in Chicago, troublemakers!

Mark Brenner is the former director of Labor Notes and is currently an instructor at the University of Oregon's Labor Education & Research Center.