Labor, allies, academics connect at UW conference on June 22-25

SEATTLE — Issues of social justice, mass incarceration and the politics of race and gender — past and present — will be the focus as hundreds of scholars, teachers, labor activists and artists gather at the University of Washington on June 22-25 for the annual conference of the Labor and Working-Class History Association (LAWCHA). The four-day conference, titled “Scales of Struggle: Communities, Movements and Global Connections,” and sponsored by the UW Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies, will be held in Mary Gates Hall on the UW’s Seattle campus.

The conference agenda includes panels about unions and activism — including a “Thinking Globally, Resisting Locally” panel that will feature WSLC President Jeff Johnson, MLKCLC’s Nicole Grant and Sen. Rebecca Saldaña on Saturday, June 24 — plus dozens of roundtables and workshops featuring new research and perspectives on issues such as immigration, labor rights, racism, gender discrimination and the environment. Other local labor leaders will participate, as will faculty and graduate students from the UW departments of history, political science and English plus UW Bothell and UW Tacoma.

All are invited to register online for this conference. The welcome reception and opening plenary on Thursday, June 22 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. will be in Alder Commons, 1310 NE 40th St. The conference then convenes Friday, June 23 at 8 a.m., continuing through Sunday, June 25 at noon, in Mary Gates Hall at the center of the UW Seattle campus.