Ideas at Work is the AFL-CIO’s ongoing series of panels, film screenings and other events that capture the activism happening in the workplace and around the country. These events are free and open to the public.
Coming in September
Sept. 13: Exhibit and book release—Earl Dotter: Life's Work
Earl Dotter launches his new comprehensive retrospective book and exhibit tour: Life’s Work, A Fifty Year Photographic Chronicle of Working in the U.S.A.
Sept. 18: Panel discussion—Shifting the Power: Building Pro-Worker Policies from the Ground Up
Sept. 20: Panel—The Future of Work
Co-hosted by the German Embassy, this panel discussion features German Trade Union Confederation (DGB) President Reiner Hoffman and AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka.
TBD: Film screening—"Kailash"
Featuring Nobel Peace Prize winner Kailash Satyarthi
Past Events
July 10—Collective Action on the Rise: How the Labor Movement Can Sustain the Momentum of Change
A panel of workers and organizers discussed recent organizing victories and ongoing campaigns, and shared on-the-ground insights about what’s working and what comes next.
June 26—What the Eyes Don't See
Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, physician, activist and Flint, Michigan, water crisis whistleblower, discussed her new book, What the Eyes Don’t See: A Story of Crisis, Resistance, and Hope in an American City with Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Mich.).
June 18—Can Democracy Survive Global Capitalism?
Robert Kuttner, co-founder and co-editor of The American Prospect, discussed his book Can Democracy Survive Global Capitalism? and argued that limiting workers’ rights, liberating bankers, allowing corporations to evade taxation and preventing nations from assuring economic security, allows raw capitalism to damage the very foundation of a healthy democracy.
June 5—Film Screening and Panel Discussion: Bayard & Me
Bayard Rustin, civil rights leader and organizer of the March on Washington adopted his younger boyfriend Walter Naegle in 1980 to obtain the legal protections of marriage. In this intimate film by Matt Wolf, Walter reflects on his relationship with Bayard, intergenerational gay adoption and its connection to the civil rights movement.
Conferences and Events
Workers Memorial Day
On April 28, the unions of the AFL-CIO observe Workers Memorial Day to remember those who have suffered and died on the job and to renew the fight for safe jobs. This year we will come together to defend hard-won victories by working people from attacks by right-wing Republicans and business groups. We will commit to fighting until all workers have safe jobs and the freedom to form unions to seek a better future.
AFL-CIO Conventions
Every four years, the AFL-CIO holds a convention to democratically elect officers. Elected delegates representing working people from across the country and from every job category come together to choose their leaders and express their policy preferences. Our convention adopts resolutions that guide the labor movement and improve the lives of working people. Openness, transparency and democracy are key components of how we work.
The AFL-CIO 2017 Convention was held Oct. 22–25, 2017, in St. Louis.