The 36th Annual North American Labor History Conference (NALHC), scheduled for Oct. 16-18 at various locations on Wayne State University's main Detroit campus, will feature speakers, keynote addresses, panels, a guided DIA tour, film screenings and numerous other events related to this year's theme - "The Nature of Work."

The three-day conference is designed for researchers, union members, activists and students led by scholars from North America and around the globe. 

"While the field of environmental history has provided new horizons within which to situate work and workers, this conference intends to expand those horizons through investigating the multifold meanings of 'nature' from a wide range of disciplinary and interdisciplinary perspectives," says Francis Shor, Wayne State University professor of history and NALHC organizer. 

A sampling of topics includes a broad range of discussions including:

•    Political Conflicts in Public and Charter K-12 Schools 
•    Labor Conflicts Under State and Federal Regulations 
•    Reinventing Industrial People and Places 
•    Fighting to End Sweatshops in the Global Economy 
•    Detroit Stories: Working in the Shadows of the "New" Economy 
•    Inside the Belly of the Beast: Outlawed Immigrant Workers in Detroit

Featured speakers include:

Charles Kernaghan, executive director of the Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights. He is known for speaking out against sweatshops, corporate greed, and the appalling living and working conditions of impoverished workers around the world.

Alice Kessler-Harris, R. Gordon Hoxie Professor of American History at Columbia University, in New York City and former president of the Organization of American Historians. She specializes in the history of American labor and the comparative and interdisciplinary exploration of women and gender.

Richard D. Wolff, an American heterodox economist, well-known for his work on Marxian economics, economic methodology and class analysis. He is professor of economics, emeritus and University of Massachusetts, Amherst and currently a visiting professor in the Graduate Program in International Affairs of the New School University in New York. Wolff hosts a weekly hour-long radio program, Economic Update, on WBAI, 99.5 FM, New York City (Pacifica Radio) and is featured regularly in television, print and Internet media. 

For information about the conference, visit nalhc.wayne.edu/ or contact Francis Shor at 313-577-9325 or by email at f.shor@wayne.edu 

Registrations may be submitted at specialevents.wayne.edu/nalhc-2014. Various pricing and special event options are available.