Our Events

aNNUAL meeting and cONFERENCE

The WLHS by-laws state that an annual meeting must be held annually in April or May.  WLHS includes the annual meeting as part of the all-day conference.  This has become a popular event among Wisconsin trade unionists and other interested people, attracting more than 100 participants each year to hear labor history experts and the trade unionists who make history reflect on how Wisconsin’s labor history helps us understand current events.

 

2026 Conference

The 2026 Wisconsin Labor History Society Conference and Annual Meeting will take place on Saturday, May 9, 2026.  Check-in will begin at 8:30 AM and the conference program will begin at 9:00 AM.  The event will take place at Iron Workers Local 8, 12034 W. Adler Lane, Milwaukee, WI 53214.  WLHS is grateful to Iron Workers Local 8 for hosting our event.

This year’s theme is “Labor and Democracy in the Age of Authoritarianism.”  Delivering the Stephen Meyer Memorial Lecture and keynoting the event will be John Nichols, executive editor of The Nation magazine and Associate Editor of the Cap Times in Madison.  Nichols is a leading progressive voice and is well-known for his 2011 coverage of the Act 10 uprising and subsequent analysis of the law’s impacts.  Nichols has written, cowritten, or edited over a dozen books on topics ranging from histories of American socialism and the Democratic party to analysis of US and global media systems.  His latest, cowritten with Senator Bernie Sanders, is the New York Times bestseller It’s OK to Be Angry About Capitalism.  

The conference program will also feature a presentation by Todd Dalhstrom, Organizing Director of the Minnesota AFL-CIO, to discuss the Minnesota labor movement’s participation in the resistance to ICE in Minnesota.

The conference program will also include a panel featuring Wisconsin teachers talking about how teachers and their unions are instrumental in resisting fascism and growing democracy, featuring AFT-Wisconsin president Jon Shelton and MTEA member and Wisconsin historian Jim Nelsen.  It will also feature a panel of trade unionists discussing how their unions are pushing back and protecting their members and workplaces from ICE authoritarian terror, featuring Milwaukee Area Labor Council Immigrant Rights Committee chair Julissa Velazquez and WFNHP Local 5000 Vice-President Gavin Rice.  More panelists to be announced.

The conference will conclude with a discussion led by School for Workers Assistant Professor Ericka Wills. 

After the conference adjourns at 3:00 PM we will hold our annual meeting for the Society to elect officers, review reports, and do other business.

Click here to go to EventBrite to register and pay online.

Click here to print a conference registration form, which you can mail in with a check.

Contact us at info@wisconsinlaborhistory.org with any questions.