Each year, workers from Iowa and across the nation travel to the University of Iowa campus to attend Labor Center courses focused on labor and employment laws, workplace health and safety, civil rights, collective bargaining, organizational leadership skills, and contemporary labor policy issues.
Classes are taught by Labor Center staff, university faculty, and other subject matter experts. Programs vary from one-day conferences to weeklong residential leadership schools. Our classes feature interactive discussions, case studies, and small group exercises that encourage participants to apply course content and their own experiences to a variety of hypothetical workplace scenarios. Lodging is available on or near campus (see individual program flyers for details).
The Labor Center's signature open enrollment program is our annual "Labor Short Course," a five-day intensive leadership course designed for emerging leaders in unions and workers' centers. The Short Course equips participants with a foundation in labor history, public speaking, national and global labor policy issues, organizing, workplace legal rights, and much more.
Download our 2024-25 program brochure for a complete list of on-campus programs and then register below. All in-person courses will take place on the University of Iowa campus.
PROGRAM REGISTRATION
Program attendees always leave with new ideas and information to bring back to their communities, and the confidence to apply the skills they learned. Register today!
Host Your National and Regional Leadership Conferences on the University of Iowa Campus!
Labor Center instructors regularly travel to present sessions for conferences held off-campus, but we also partner with labor organizations to host their regional and national leadership conferences on the University of Iowa campus. Over just the past 3 years, we welcomed participants from 30 states, Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico to our campus for weeklong leadership institutes. In that time, we have hosted in-person and online conferences such as:
- CWA New Staff Training
- CWA Minority Leadership Institute
- CWA District 7 Leadership Conference
- UFCW Meatpacking Health and Safety Conference
- Midwest School for Women Workers
- Rail Worker Health & Safety Conference
- Iowa Women in the Trades Leadership Conference
- BlueGreen Alliance of Iowa: Labor and Climate Justice Summit
- Midwest Labor Press Association Annual Conference
- APWU Postal Press Association
- APWU Tri-State Conference
In addition, the Labor Center hosts an annual one-day public conference that convenes unions, workers' centers, faith-based organizations, civil rights groups, students, faculty, and national keynote speakers to discuss intersectional societal challenges related to workers and work. Past conferences have featured leaders of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, Centro de Trabajadores Unidos en Lucha, Restaurant Opportunities Center, Interfaith Worker Justice, New Orleans Workers Center for Racial Justice, National Council for Occupational Safety and Health, and the BlueGreen Alliance.
Upcoming On-Campus Programs
Stewards' School
September 29-30, 2025
Our highly-sought-after, two-day Stewards' School is back! Conference topics include: union values & roles of union stewards; legal rights of union stewards; handling grievances from investigation to presentation; the “Tests of Just Cause” and other principles of contract interpretation; educating and engaging your members.
View the program flyer
Registration cost: $300
Register by September 8, 2025
Financial Officers' School
December 4-5, 2025
A two-day intensive course for union officers responsible for private and Iowa public sector union financial recordkeeping, featuring guest instructors with expertise in the law and practice of union finances.
View the program flyer
Registration cost: $300
Register by November 13, 2025
Collective Bargaining
January 21-23, 2026
A program intended for private sector union leaders and staff who are involved in collective bargaining. Appropriate for both new and experienced negotiators with in-person bargaining simulation.
View the program flyer
Registration cost: $400
Register by December 31, 2025
Workers' Compensation in Iowa
March 26-27, 2026
For union leaders, staff, and members interested in better under- standing Iowa Code Chapter 85, Iowa workers’ compensation law.
View the program flyer
Registration cost: $300
Register by March 5, 2026