{"id":1050,"date":"2026-08-31T10:14:22","date_gmt":"2026-08-31T14:14:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/workers-rights-institute\/?page_id=1050"},"modified":"2026-08-31T10:43:18","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T14:43:18","slug":"labor-day-seminar","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/workers-rights-institute\/labor-day-seminar\/","title":{"rendered":"SEMINAR: LABOR DAY 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size: 12pt\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1051 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/workers-rights-institute\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/39\/2026\/08\/Co-Enforcement-Event.png\" alt=\"Event flyer for \u201cEnforcing Healthy and Safe Working Conditions, Stable Employment, and Adequate Wages,\u201d Sept. 4, 2026, Georgetown Law.\" width=\"930\" height=\"1162\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/workers-rights-institute\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/39\/2026\/08\/Co-Enforcement-Event.png 1080w, https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/workers-rights-institute\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/39\/2026\/08\/Co-Enforcement-Event-240x300.png 240w, https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/workers-rights-institute\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/39\/2026\/08\/Co-Enforcement-Event-819x1024.png 819w, https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/workers-rights-institute\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/39\/2026\/08\/Co-Enforcement-Event-768x960.png 768w, https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/workers-rights-institute\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/39\/2026\/08\/Co-Enforcement-Event-500x625.png 500w, https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/workers-rights-institute\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/39\/2026\/08\/Co-Enforcement-Event-740x925.png 740w, https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/workers-rights-institute\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/39\/2026\/08\/Co-Enforcement-Event-980x1225.png 980w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 930px) 100vw, 930px\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt\"><strong><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif\">Organized by Marta Rozmys\u0142owicz, Affiliate Fellow at the Workers\u2019 Rights Institute<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt\"><strong><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif\">September 4, 2026 | \u00a011:30 AM \u2013 2:00 PM \u00a0| In Person<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt\"><strong><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif\">Georgetown University Law Center, 500 First St NW, 9th floor Conference Room,\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt\"><strong><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif\">Washington DC, 20001<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt\"><strong><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif\"><a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/forms\/d\/e\/1FAIpQLScxefXGNGCEU7meS54QIcFvAYDiIEnv3KBfOPsuhSuvi1UTqg\/viewform?usp=dialog\">Click Here To Register<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size: 12pt\">Recent struggles led by organized workers have produced progressive labor laws at various levels of government- city, state, and national- in both the United States and Europe. These legislative measures seek to improve working conditions, curb exploitative algorithms, and enhance job security. They target abusive practices widely deployed by major employers such as Amazon within the logistics, warehousing, and transportation industries. However, while pro-worker legislation is essential, the law can only be as strong as its enforcement; labor standards on paper do not by themselves improve working conditions.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size: 12pt\">When it comes to enforcing the law, government agencies charged with protecting workers\u2019 health, safety, wages, and job security operate at best with limited reach. Many employers, meanwhile, have shown that they lack the capacity and the incentive to self-regulate, choosing instead to undermine the law and engage in union busting. Workers, by their proximity to the labor process, are best positioned to know when a job is unsafe, when a quota is unreasonable, or when a wage or scheduling practice violates the law. However, existing legal frameworks tend to vest workers with little agency in enforcing labor standards.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size: 12pt\">The seminar seeks to address the following questions:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size: 12pt\">What strategies can workers and their organizations develop to effectively enforce their rights in the workplace?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size: 12pt\">How can progressive government at various levels provide the necessary infrastructure to make this possible?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size: 12pt\">Does a focus on enforcing rights on the shop floor help build workplace organization?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size: 12pt\">What is the role of mass education programs in advancing these objectives?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size: 12pt\">This seminar brings together rank-and-file worker organizers, scholars, and elected officials to examine \u201cco-enforcement\u201d: arrangements in which worker organizations partner with, pressure, or substitute for under-resourced agencies in enforcing labor standards. We look at emerging proposals in New York City to institutionalize mass worker education as a co-enforcement tool in warehousing and last-mile delivery, and we hear from worker organizers at Amazon about their campaigns to enforce the city\u2019s Delivery Protection Act (DPA). In the international context, we turn to Poland, where a union has pushed to govern from the shopfloor, including at Amazon warehouses, while also campaigning to increase the enforcement capacities of the National Labor Inspectorate; this work has meant coordinating struggles with other unions, both larger and smaller, at the workplace level. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size: 12pt\">To get the most out of our discussion, we strongly encourage seminar participants to read the following: Vgontzas, Nantina, and Sanjay Pinto. 2026. &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/archive.nyu.edu\/bitstream\/2451\/75585\/2\/07%20Mass%20Worker%20Education.pdf\">Mass Worker Education: Governing from the Shop floor<\/a>,&#8221; NYU Urban Democracy Lab Working Paper.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt\"><strong><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif\">Speakers<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size: 12pt\"><strong>Luc Rene<\/strong>, driver at Amazon\u2019s \u201clast mile\u201d warehouse DBK4 in Queens, NY and organizer at Teamsters Local 804 (confirmed) &#8211; will discuss the union\u2019s organizing among workers at Amazon\u2019s last-mile delivery stations in New York City, and the campaign to pass and enforce the Delivery Protection Act.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size: 12pt\"><strong>Bartek Kurzyca<\/strong>, long-haul truck driver for Amazon in Europe, organizer at OZZ Inicjatywa Pracownicza (Workers\u2019 Initiative Union in Poland) and member of the union&#8217;s Executive Council (confirmed) &#8211; will discuss the union\u2019s recent campaigns centered on co-enforcement: for the right to strike, a heat law that mandates work stoppage at high temperatures, as well as the push to equip Poland\u2019s Labor Inspectorate with real enforcement capacity.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size: 12pt\"><strong>Roman Lupi\u0144ski<\/strong>, warehouse associate at POZ1 Amazon Fulfillment Center in Pozna\u0144, Poland and organizer at OZZ Inicjatywa Pracownicza (confirmed) &#8211; will discuss the union\u2019s efforts to enforce labor standards over a decade of organizing at Amazon. Roman will present Amazon Workers International, a network of organized warehouse associates and supporters that aims to coordinate workers\u2019 struggles across national divides.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size: 12pt\"><strong>Nantina Vgontzas<\/strong>, assistant professor, Labor Studies, CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies (confirmed), will present their proposal (co-authored with Sanjay Pinto) for mass worker education as a tool of co-enforcement in New York City, building on the city\u2019s commitment to expand resources for the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP). They will outline a pilot program in warehousing and last-mile delivery that would train a corps of warehouse workers and delivery drivers as peer educators so as to strengthen enforcement of the Warehouse Worker Protection Act, the Warehouse Worker Injury Reduction Act, and the proposed Delivery Protection Act.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size: 12pt\"><strong>Sanjay Pinto<\/strong>, sociologist based in Brooklyn, senior fellow at the Center for Urban Economic Development at the University of Illinois Chicago, fellow at the Worker Institute at Cornell ILR and Data &amp; Society affiliate (confirmed), will present their proposal (co-authored with Nantina Vgontzas) for mass worker education as a tool of co-enforcement in New York City.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size: 12pt\"><strong>Aparna Raj<\/strong>, Democratic nominee for DC Council, Ward 1, (confirmed), will present her perspective on co-enforcement, mass worker education and what role the DC Council could play in empowering workers when it comes to enforcing labor standards.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size: 12pt\">Speaker from ROC DC\/DCJWJ (TBC)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size: 12pt\"><strong>Moderator<\/strong>: Marta Rozmys\u0142owicz is an organizer and lawyer with OZZ Inicjatywa Pracownicza (Workers Initiative) in Poland. She was a union representative and a member of the warehouse health and safety commission at Amazon\u2019s Fulfillment Center POZ1 in Pozna\u0144. She is currently pursuing her PhD in labor law at the University of Warsaw, Poland.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; Organized by Marta Rozmys\u0142owicz, Affiliate Fellow at the Workers\u2019 Rights Institute September 4, 2026 | \u00a011:30 AM \u2013 2:00 PM \u00a0| In Person Georgetown University Law Center, 500 First St NW, 9th floor Conference Room,\u00a0 Washington DC, 20001 Click Here To Register Recent struggles led by organized workers have produced progressive labor laws at [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7662,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1050","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/workers-rights-institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1050","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/workers-rights-institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/workers-rights-institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/workers-rights-institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7662"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/workers-rights-institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1050"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/workers-rights-institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1050\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1075,"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/workers-rights-institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1050\/revisions\/1075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/workers-rights-institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}