Basic Steward Training
2025-09-23 18:00 - 2025-10-21 20:00 (America/New_York) | Virtual Event
Virtual Tuesdays 9/9/25-10/7/25- Course Description: This course will cover the basic duties and responsibilities of a Shop Steward. Building your skills by emphasizing strategic planning for local unions, member mobilization, recording documentation, and the grievance process. Students will participate in case studies to develop and enhance problem-solving techniques to navigate through daily issues swiftly and professionally. Students will also build more effective skills to communicate between trades as well as with their members, foreman, supervisors, and/or business managers. To make the course more meaningful, students should bring their own ideas for discussion. It is recommended but not a requirement.
Instructor: Tom Breslin has been involved in Labor Education since the mid-1980s while a graduate student at the University of Minnesota where he was an adjunct instructor in the Labor Education Service. In addition, he served as the Labor Studies Coordinator in the St. Paul, MN public schools teaching Labor History and Labor topics to junior and senior high school students. He has been a Labor Educator at both the Minnesota Nurses Association as well as the Massachusetts Nurses Association. Following his retirement from the MNA, he began teaching at the Labor Guild.

Instructed By: Tom Breslin, Retired Associate Director of Labor Education, Massachusetts Nurses Association

Understanding, Reviewing, and Amending Bylaws
2025-09-24 18:00 - 2025-10-22 20:00 | Virtual Event
Virtual Wednesdays- 9/10/2025-10/8/2025- Your Union Bylaws – Do they really say what you think they say on important issues: who is the ultimate authority in the union; who gets to interpret the bylaws when it’s necessary; when does custom or past practice matter; what happens when your bylaws are silent on a potentially-divisive issue, what mandates from Robert’s Rules kick in when your bylaws are silent; what belongs in policies versus bylaws? Refine your bylaws to avoid conflicts or complications because of missing or poorly-framed language. This workshop will teach you to review, evaluate, and amend your bylaws with confidence and ease. The materials provided will be invaluable reference tools for anyone serving in a leadership role and is responsible to membership and to any member interested in the effectiveness of their governance documents.

Union Meetings and Robert’s Rules
2025-10-15 18:00 - 2025-11-12 20:00 | Virtual Event
Whether you want to become a more effective and respected Chair, or a more confident and impactful participant, we’ll put Robert’s Rules Order to work to achieve more effective and democratic union meetings. We’ll review both the basics of Robert’s Rules of Order (making motions, debate, and voting). You will learn how Robert’s Rules of Order interfaces with your union’s bylaws, special rules of order, standing rules, and past practice, as well as labor law. Other issues we will discuss will be special meetings, executive session, electronic meetings, rules for committees and small boards (yes, they are different from membership meetings!), members ex-officio, and more. You will also find the materials distributed in this course invaluable meeting tools as you attend or run your union meetings.

Sold Out-Advanced Steward Training
2025-10-21 18:00 - 2025-11-25 20:00 | Virtual Event
This course will build on the skills students developed in the Basic Steward Training course by emphasizing Strategic Planning for local unions, members mobilization, and problem-solving techniques and member mobilization skills. To make the course more meaningful, students should bring their own ideas for discussion. It is a prerequisite that students have completed the Basic Steward Training course.
It is a prerequisite that students will have completed the Basic Steward Training course.
Objectives:

Students will enhance their grievance handling and grievance investigation skills.
Students will develop skills around Member Mobilization.
Students will learn skills to assist their union in Strategic Planning.
Students will improve their understanding of the role of the union steward in the union Organizing model.

Instructed By: Tom Breslin, Retired Associate Director of Labor Education, Massachusetts Nurses Association

Free Virtual Unemployment Insurance Benefits Workshop
2025-11-06 18:00 - 20:00 | Virtual Event
Unemployment Insurance (UI)
Unemployment insurance (UI) is a critical safety net during periods of joblessness. This vital program allows workers and their families to meet their basic living expenses when they’re out of work, while stabilizing the economy during recessions.
This workshop provides you with the expertise you need to understand the UI system and secure the UI benefits to which you and members of your union are legally entitled. It will guide you through the UI system from eligibility criteria to the appeals process. It will also discuss challenges with DUA’s new online system, how union members should address new questions in the online benefit portal to remain exempt from the work search requirement, and how part-time work during a benefit claim may affect eligibility.
JASON SALGADO is a Staff Attorney in the Workers’ Rights Unit of Greater Boston Legal Services, where he represents workers and advocates for legislative change in unemployment insurance, paid family medical leave, wage and hour, and misclassification matters. Jason previously worked in the Workers’ Rights Unit as an AmeriCorps paralegal, law student intern, and volunteer. Jason graduated from Harvard Law School in 2021 and received his bachelor’s degree from Boston College.

Free Virtual Paid Family and Medical Leave Workshop
2025-11-13 18:00 - 20:00 | Virtual Event
Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML)
As of 2021, Massachusetts has fully implemented its Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML) program, providing workers wage replacement benefits when they have to remain out of work because of their own serious health condition, to care for a family member, or to bond with a newborn or newly-adopted child. By enabling workers to afford to take time away from work under these circumstances, these critical benefits improve health outcomes for workers and the public as a whole, while also improving early childhood development outcomes for children.
This workshop will provide an overview of the benefits and protections available to workers under the PFML law, tips regarding the application and appeals process, and a discussion of unresolved barriers to accessing these benefits to look out for as you seek to access these benefits for yourself, your family, or other members of your union.
STEPHANIE HERRON RICE is an attorney and Racial Justice Fellow at Greater Boston Legal Services (GBLS) in the Workers’ Rights Unit. Her practice focuses on Paid Family Medical Leave (PFML) and unemployment insurance (UI) individual representation and systemic advocacy. Stephanie serves on the UI Bond Bill Advisory Council, providing input to the Employment Modernization and Transformation Project overhauling the UI online system. Prior to joining GBLS, Stephanie worked in the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute and South Coastal Counties’ Justice Center in Brockton as a housing and benefits attorney. She received her J.D. from Northeastern University School of Law.

2025 Cushing-Gavin Awards Celebration
2025-12-05 19:00 | IBEW Local 103 Function Hall, 256 Freeport St #1, Dorchester, MA, 02122, United States

Labor Guild 2026 Annual Membership Meeting
2026-01-29 19:00 - 20:00 | The Labor Guild, 66 Brooks Drive, Braintree, MA, 02184, United States
As a member of the Labor Guild Community, you’re invited to join us at our
2026 Annual Membership Meeting
January 29, 2026 at 7:00PM
This is to advise you of the upcoming Annual Meeting of the Labor Guild. The details of this meeting are as follows:
Date: Thursday, January 29, 2026
Time: 7:00PM
Location: Pastoral Center, 66 Brooks Drive, Braintree, MA, 02184
We will:

Recap The Labor Guild’s 2025 Program;
Discuss 2026’s Program;
Elect The Slate of Directors for the Board

The meeting will be followed by a light bite and refreshments.

Basic Steward Training with Deb Sullivan
2026-02-10 18:00 - 2026-03-10 20:00 | Virtual Event
This 5-week course is designed to focus on BASIC Stewards training:

Expectations of a steward ~ What is a Steward anyway?
What you need to have ~ Resources necessary to do the job
Organizing vs Servicing ~ Attitude and approach to solution solving
Your rights and obligations as a steward ~ How to deal with management
Weingarten Rights~ How to investigate a grievance ~ dealing with members
Grievances ~ Writing, Investigating, and Presenting
Grievance Case study ~ Role play

Students should expect to actively participate in the discussions each week, bringing experiences, real time problems and ideas for solutions to the issues they face as stewards in their workplace. Copies of the contract the students are currently working with as well as copies of local union bylaws, constitutions, or any other governing documents should be available for students to check and use as a resource.
Instructed by: Deb Sullivan, Retired Associate Director of Labor Education~ Massachusetts Nurses Association

Building Union Strength Through Conflict Resolution with Ed Watt
2026-02-11 18:00 - 2026-03-11 20:00 | Virtual Event
During this training, participants will:

Understand the root causes, types, and effects of workplace conflict.
Learn how awareness and intentional responses can shift conflict outcomes toward collaboration.
Practice communication tools—such as active listening, open-ended questioning, and reflection—to de-escalate tension and strengthen relationships.
Participate in small and large group exercises, culminating in a role-play based on real-life workplace scenarios.

When completing this workshop, the attendees will view conflict as an opportunity to grow the union and actively promote understanding in the workplace.
Instructed by Ed Watt:
At age 16, Ed Watt started his union career as a member of Local 338 RWDSU. Working for the New York City Transit Authority, he became a proud member of Transport Workers Union Local 100. At 30, he became the chief steward of Flatbush depot in Brooklyn, New York, serving over 800 bus operators. In 2001, he was elected Financial Secretary-Treasurer of the 38,000- member local. He would serve three terms and then move on to positions in the Transport Workers Union International and the Amalgamated Transit Union International. He is now the principal of WattADR, an alternative dispute resolution practice. He holds a master’s degree in industrial and labor relations from Baruch/Cornell MSILR and a graduate certificate in Transportation Safety from San Jose State University.

Free Workshop: Runaway Inequality and the Crisis of U.S. Health Care
2026-02-12 18:00 - 2026-03-12 20:00 | Virtual Event
Description:
Our healthcare system isn’t working. It costs too much and covers too few people. And at the bargaining table, year after year, unions and employers face off over who will pay for the ever-escalating costs. This course offers and in-depth examination of the U.S. healthcare system, how we compare to other countries, and who really benefits from it. We’ll consider how healthcare impacts collective bargaining, how insurance companies behave, and how the Canadian healthcare system works. And we’ll look at the possibility of a solution that can deliver high-quality, affordable healthcare for everyone.
Components:

Introduction
Healthcare Benefits and Collective Bargaining
Can We Afford Better Healthcare?
How Do Insurance Companies Make Money?
What’s the Alternative to Employer-Based, For-Profit Health Insurance?
How Would Medicare for All Affect Workers?
Objections and Responses to Medicare for All

Instructors:
Katherine Isaac, Executive Director, Debs-Jones-Douglass Institute
Rose Roach, National Coordinator, Labor Campaign for Single Payer Healthcare

Union Power Tools and Media Skills with Ashley Adams
2026-03-17 18:00 - 2026-04-28 20:00 | Virtual Event
This course will cover the basics of increasing the power of a local union as well as the skills necessary for a positive public union campaign.
Specifically, we will address the following subjects:

Creating a vibrant communications network, and the one-on-one communications necessary for effective outreach and recruitment.
Listening skills
Fighting like a boxer: training, sparring, easy fights, tune up fights, and championship fights.
Leadership identification and recruitment.
Running effective meetings.
Staging events for maximum media impact.
How to talk to the news media. Presentation and interview skills.

The text we will rely on is UNION POWER TOOLS, by Ashley Adams. It’s available in print form from Amazon (all profits donated to Labor Guild and New England Jewish Labor Committee).
Instructed by: Ashley Adams
Organizer, Trainer, Negotiator, Massachusetts Teachers Association (Retired)

Drafting Contract Language to Reduce Grievances with Mike Loconto
2026-03-18 18:00 - 2026-04-15 20:00 | Virtual Event
Purpose of the Course:
The purpose of this course is to prepare contract negotiators to draft effective collective bargaining proposals. Grievances and costly arbitration’s often arise out of unclear contract language. Many locals and employers do not use attorneys to assist with drafting during the collective bargaining process, and sometimes disputes arise from ambiguous provisions.
By the end of this course, students will have tools to create durable outcomes at the table and reduce costs and uncertainty over the life of the contract.
Instructed by: Michael Loconto, Arbitrator and Mediator
Michael Loconto is a Boston-based arbitrator and mediator providing neutral, independent dispute resolution services for the modern workplace.
Arbitrator Loconto has trained with the American Arbitration Association and the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service Institute and has apprenticed under two members of the National Academy of Arbitrators in labor, employment and pension fund matters. He has experience in the public and private sectors with education, trades, construction PLAs, public safety, dining services, hospitals, and transportation, among other industries, and has handled a spectrum of discipline and discharge, contract interpretation, discrimination, substance abuse, pay and benefits matters. Arbitrator Loconto has two decades of practical experience, previously serving as an in-house counsel to a small college and a labor and employment relations leader for a large university and a major metropolitan city. He has worked with unions, managers and neutrals as a Labor and Employee Relations Association industry council leader and is the current President of Boston’s LERA Chapter. He has taught legal writing and research at Northeastern University School of Law and courses on contracts and bargaining at The Labor Guild.
Arbitrator Loconto conducts in-person or remote hearings nationally and internationally via the AAA (labor, employment and pension/ERISA matters), the Labor Relations Connection, FMCS, the National Mediation Board, and through more than two dozen state and local agencies. He is also a member of the Roster of Arbitrators with the U.S. Surface Transportation Board (rail disputes) and hears consumer lemon law claims in Massachusetts and contract vendor disputes with the City of New York.
Please visit locontoadr.com or email mtl@locontoadr.com for further information.

The American Labor Relations System: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow with Dan Fogarty
2026-03-19 18:00 - 2026-04-23 18:00 | Virtual Event
Together, in this 5-week class you will learn about and discuss:

Key historical moments and recurring trends in American labor relations
Major labor legislation and the current legal framework underpinning collective bargaining
Rules and strategy for both bargaining and administering a union contract
The challenges and opportunities facing American labor relations today and into the future

Instructed by: Daniel Fogarty, Partner, Sandulli Grace P.C.
Daniel Fogarty is a partner at Sandulli Grace, P.C., where he has practiced since 2015. Dan is dedicated to representing unions and their members in a wide range of labor and employment matters. Through his hard work, Dan has obtained successful outcomes for his union clients in contract negotiations and interest arbitration, contract administration and grievance arbitration, and unfair labor practices before the Department of Labor Relations. He has also represented workers in matters concerning work-related injuries, disability retirement applications and appeals, professional licensure and certification matters, including matters before the Massachusetts POST Commission and the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, as well as appeals for unemployment assistance, discrimination claims, and wage and hour issues.
Before joining Sandulli Grace, Dan worked as a Labor Relations Trial Examiner at the New York City Office of Collective Bargaining, where he acted as a neutral decision maker in improper practice and representation cases between the City of New York and various municipal unions. While in law school, Dan also gained valuable experience working at a union-side law firm, Region 2 of the National Labor Relations Board, and the NYC Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association.
Dan graduated cum laude from George Washington University with a B.A. in Philosophy and then went on to receive his J.D. from Brooklyn Law School where he was an active member of the Moot Court Honors Society. He is licensed to practice law in both Massachusetts and New York.

Union Meetings and Robert's Rules with Patti Legault-Frank
2026-05-05 18:00 - 2026-06-02 20:00 | Virtual Event

Improving Communication Skills with AI
2026-05-20 18:00 - 2026-06-03 20:00 | Virtual Event
Course Description:
As artificial intelligence becomes an integral part of modern work and daily life, the ability to communicate clearly and strategically with AI systems is an essential skill. This course equips learners with practical techniques for interacting with AI tools to achieve more accurate, relevant, and useful outcomes.
Students will explore how AI processes language, learn the principles of effective prompt design, and practice structuring questions and instructions to guide AI responses. The course covers key topics such as clarity, context-setting, iterative refinement, and critical evaluation of AI-generated content. Participants will also examine common pitfalls—like ambiguity and bias—and develop strategies to mitigate them.
Through hands-on exercises and real-world scenarios, learners will build confidence in using AI for tasks such as writing, research, problem-solving, and decision support. By the end of the course, students will be able to communicate with AI systems more efficiently, interpret outputs with a critical eye, and integrate AI into their workflows responsibly and effectively.
Learning Outcomes:

Craft clear, precise, and goal-oriented prompts
Guide AI responses through context and constraints
Evaluate and refine AI-generated outputs
Recognize limitations and ethical considerations in AI use
Apply AI communication skills across professional and personal contexts
