Union Members Attend Labor Summer Institute for Two Days of Movement Building Workshops, Panel Discussions & Networking

Last week nearly a hundred union members from all over the state — including nurses, delivery drivers, teachers, electricians, graduate workers, grocery store employees, baristas, construction workers, public employees, shipbuilders, mill workers and many more — gathered at the University of Maine for our first Labor Summer Institute since before the pandemic in 2019. During the two-day event, workers networked, discussed how to support each other’s struggles, learned about effective organizing strategies and told stories about their work lives.

Immigrant advocates gave presentations on the conditions for farmworkers in Maine and the history of why farmworkers are excluded from critical worker protections. We had robust group discussions and debates about a broad range of topics including farmworker rights and ensuring climate policies put workers first. Some of the most powerful presentations came from union members themselves. 
 

Members of the UMaine Graduate Workers Union (UAW) Maine State Nurses Association (NNU), International Brotherhood of Teamsters and others gave fascinating accounts of how they built power in the workplace through intensive organizing and won union drives and good contracts. Workers also led and attended workshops on faith & labor, internal organizing, labor education, amplifying workers’ voices on social media and fighting for pro-labor legislation. Union members will now be able to take what they’ve learned and apply it to their organizing work. Many of us also made some great new friends!