Call for Proposals: LRAN 2023 Conference
Labor Research and Action Network National Conference
June 7th- 8th, 2023
Georgetown University, Washington, DC
Co-hosted by Georgetown University’s Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor
What We All Bring - Strategy and Research for Everyone in the Movement
This is a conference for organizers, scholars, and anyone advancing the labor movement to bring their experiences and analyses together.
Research happens every day in the labor movement. Organizers conduct informal interviews, workers gather data, advocates perform policy analysis, and countless others take stock of our socio-political climate and strategize for the future. It may not always get called this, but it’s research all the same, and this year’s LRAN conference is dedicated to the depth and breadth of labor research taking place in this moment.
And what a moment it continues to be. We’ve come a long way since the pandemic shifted all aspects of our daily lives. We now have better tools to stay safe at work and at play, but complacency is not a luxury we are ever afforded in the fight for worker justice. While the pandemic fades from national headlines, the unfolding economic impacts of its aftermath remain a reality that the most vulnerable still face. Union approval ratings have never been higher, and still challenges to organizing have never been more fierce. Inflation driven by corporate greed threatens the strong gains workers have made in the past two years.
As always, we’re tasked with figuring out how we can draw from the past and innovate for the future, providing the tools and skills we collectively need to continue the fight. In that spirit, we challenge our network to consider the following question at this year’s gathering:
- How can scholarly work intersect with grassroots research in meaningful, impactful ways?
- What can we all gain by being more inclusive of non-traditional research?
- How do we leverage academic rigor for broader gains beyond the university setting?
Co-hosted by Georgetown University’s Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor, this year’s LRAN conference invites participants from universities, unions, worker centers, policy organizations, and others involved in the work of labor justice to submit proposals (including trainings) for 90 minute sessions that address one of the following tracks:
- Threats to democracy - Representative research to uplift worker voices and get beyond sound-byte rhetoric
- Everyone’s a researcher - Skill building and engagement to grow capacity and diversity in labor research, both in and outside traditional settings
- The next generation of worker organizing - young workers leading the movement in new sectors
- Defining victory - worker gains beyond the NLRB
- Broadening our scope - Building sustainable “common good” campaigns
- Bridging the gap - Coalition building and intersectional struggle
LRAN conferences have always included a broad range of workshops proposed and organized by attendees from labor, NGOs, and academia. Past workshops have included the topics of privatization, racial and gender justice, worker power in the logistics supply chain, strikes and power, the gig economy, climate justice, the public sector, and more. Proposals that include a range of participants from different fields or perspectives (i.e., academics and union activists and organizers), and that clearly detail a focus on research-to-action case studies or new research skills will be prioritized. Past workshop formats have included: panel presentations, trainings, paper presentations, video showings/discussion, and moderated roundtable discussions. We highly encourage training proposals for this conference.
Submit your proposed session at the below link by Friday, March 10th:
