Your Page Header Title

Join us to learn the rules, format, and other logistics of the Justice Cup Tournament. Each team must send a team captain to the meeting in order to participate in the Tournament.  The meeting will include simultaneous English-Spanish interpretation.

The ALF Board and COPE Committee meet on the first Monday of every month from 5:00 - 6:30 pm online.  What is the ALF Board? The ALF Board is the leadership body of the Western Mass Area Labor Federation. The board is responsible for leading the ALF between delegate meetings. Board meetings are open to observation by all ALF delegates, but only board members may vote. What is the COPE Committee? The Committee on Political Education (COPE) is responsible for the ALF endorsement process, our work with elected officials, lobbying, and advocacy. All of the members of the ALF board are automatically members of the COPE Committee.  I am a delegate. How do I join the COPE Committee? Delegates may ask to be appointed as additional members of the COPE Committee by the President with the approval of the board. Contact the ALF President, Ethel Everett, to learn more.

Come support your community at the Justice Cup Soccer Tournament. This November, unions and community members will be competing in a soccer tournament to support the Pioneer Valley Workers Center. Help us raise funds, build community, and cheer on the players at Allsport Arena in Northampton. Pioneer Valley Workers Center organizes to build power with low-wage immigrant workers in Western Massachusetts. Through grassroots organizing led by those most impacted by injustice, we transform systems and institutions that exploit workers and threaten immigrants at the local, state and national level. Looking to register a team? Go to the registration page. 

Have you just been appointed as a delegate from your union to the Area Labor Federation? Been a delegate for a while, but want a refresher on our work? Sign up for a delegate orientation today. We offer online and in-person trainings. In-person trainings usually happen the evening of the monthly delegates meeting, so you can learn what it means to be a delegate and then dive into your first meeting! If you have any questions, or need an orientation session outside the scheduled times, email the Field Organizer at organizer@wmalf.org! 

Join us in-person or online for the Western Mass ALF Delegates Meeting. Any member of an ALF affiliate union may attend the delegates meeting, but only delegates may vote. ALF Delegate Meetings are Hybrid. RSVP here to receive the zoom link. Physical location schedule: September 14th  - WMALF Office, 640 Page Blvd, Springfield, MA October 19th - 241 King St, SUITE 103, Northampton, MA November 9th - WMALF Office, 640 Page Blvd, Springfield, MA December 14th - 241 King St, SUITE 103, Northampton, MA Are you an affiliate leader?  Update your delegation to the ALF

This event is put on by members of the Education Committee and does not necessarily represent the views of the WMALF or AFL-CIO. We encourage Union members to engage with each other on a wide range of topics, including those which have a range of views in the Labor Movement. The Distributed Artificial Intelligence Research (DAIR) Initiative (Oakland, CA), the DePaul University Labor Education Center (Chicago, IL), and the UC San Diego Labor Center (San Diego, CA), in partnership with Cedric de Leon at the UMass Amherst Labor Center, seek to advance an alternative agenda on Artificial Intelligence for the U.S. labor movement.  The AFL-CIO recently signaled that it will partner with tech giants like Microsoft to mitigate the devastating effects of the industry on workers. Likewise, the AFT announced a partnership with OpenAI on incorporating AI in the classroom – this despite the fact that OpenAI and its contractors are among the most egregious violators of worker rights both in the United States and abroad.  To counter this push toward collaboration, we intend to persuade workers, union staff, and leadership of a different approach: one that advocates for resistance to the AI hype and a revival of the old idea of industrial democracy. The idea is to advance the talking points of this agenda through various methods of political education and in doing so counter the impulse to collaborate with people and corporations who want to undermine the power of organized labor through a system of temporary, badly paid, and highly exploitative jobs. To that end, we are asking labor organizations across the country to attend a pilot of our two-hour training. The goal of the pilot is to collect feedback that we will use to make the training more engaging, at which point we will roll the training out to to the wider labor movement  The two-hour pilot training will consist of four parts: A brief informational session on how AI is currently being used in the workplace; Small group discussion and report back in which leadership, staff, and/or rank and file share their own experience of AI in the workplace; A bargaining simulation in which participants attempt to negotiate AI language with a school district; and A debrief for collecting feedback on the training.   We have already conducted the very first pilot at the national Jobs with Justice conference in Atlanta in May 2026. We received very positive feedback, but we would like to collect more input before sharing the training with the wider labor movement. 

The Education Committee of the Western MA Area Labor Federation has a simple, but important mission: building the skills, knowledge, and competency of the regional labor movement. Our programs cover topics including introductory steward trainings, labor law & workplace safety, contract campaigns, labor history, and more! Our events are generally free and open to the public, though there may be exceptions. We ask that participants RSVP, which will also give you access to the zoom link for online events. Getting Involved in the Education Committee Are you passionate about education? We are always happy to include new members in our education committee. If you are interested, email the education committee chair Jerry Levinsky (MTA-MSP) to learn more: jerry.levinsky@gmail.com.

Union stewards are the first line of defense for union members! Learn the basics of being a union steward from fellow union members in the Area Labor Federation’s introductory training. Explore key topics like Weingarten rights, Just Cause principles, fighting grievances, and more! Over the course of the day-long training we will cover: An organizing approach to addressing workplace issues and building union power. Weingarten rights and other legal protections for union stewards and workers. Filing information requests and investigating potential grievances Just Cause Principles and writing a strong grievance and more... This training will be led by members of the Western MA Area Labor Federation's Education Committee, bringing decades of practical experience in union organizing. Our training programs are open to members of any union. We believe that when we bring members of different unions together, we can learn from each other and build skills. About the Western MA Area Labor Federation The Western Massachusetts Area Labor Federation is a coalition of more than 60 local unions from across Western Massachusetts dedicated to building power and a better world for all working people. We bring together workers and leaders from different unions, trades, and towns to build a stronger and more unified voice for the more than 50,000 union members and the hundreds of thousands of non-union workers across Western Massachusetts. The WMALF brings people together, turns union members out in solidarity with each other’s fights, makes political endorsements, gets out the vote, and helps coordinate multiple union campaigns. We are committed to working together to build grassroots power, coordinating work on common campaigns, and pooling our resources to maximize the Labor Movement’s effectiveness throughout Western Massachusetts.

Join us for a training on using UNION POWER to address discrimination and harassment in the workplace. We'll cover: Types of discrimination Burden of Proof State and Federal Enforcement Role of Collective Bargaining Agreements Grievance Handling Organizing Approaches There will be an hour-long lunch break. A microwave and refrigerator are available on site.  This training will be led by members of the Western MA Area Labor Federation's Education Committee, bringing decades of practical experience in union organizing. Our training programs are open to members of any union. We believe that when we bring members of different unions together, we can learn from each other and build skills.