Tradeswomen Connect 2025
Extending the Tradeswomen Build Nations Experience
While the Tradeswomen Build Nations conference brings together the largest gathering of unionized tradeswomen in the world, September 19-21, Chicago Women in Trades is excited to host and promote additional events that extend the learning, networking, and celebration of the conference. Join us for these special experiences that showcase Chicago’s rich labor history and strengthen our community.
SEPTEMBER 18-22, 2025 | Chicago, IL

2025 Taskforce Institute & Professional Development
Hosted by: National Taskforce on Tradeswomen’s Issues
Join the National Taskforce on Tradeswomen’s Issues for four days of professional development focused on advancing access, opportunity, and equity for women in the trades before and after the Trades Women Build Nations (TWBN) conference in Chicago. (Note: the Taskforce is not a part of NABTU.)
The convenings are scheduled at times that do not conflict with TWBN. The venue is about a 15-minute drive from the NABTU TWBN Conference location.
Apprentices are welcome, and scholarships will be available!
EVENT DETAILS
Day 1
2025 Federal Policy and Responses
Thursday, September 18, 10:00 a.m.-4:30 p.m. (Coffee and lunch will be provided)
Day 2
Organizing for Change, Preparing Next Generation, Leadership Paths
Friday, September 19, 8:00 a.m.-12:10 p.m. (Breakfast and coffee will be provided)
Day 3
Building Towards Action
Sunday, September 21, 1:00-4:30 p.m. (Coffee and lunch will be provided)
Day 4
Strength and Solidarity
Monday, September 22, 8:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. (Coffee, breakfast, and lunch will be provided)
Contact: Connie Ashbrook at connie.ashbrook@outlook.com

Building the Tradeswomen Movement
Hosted by: Chicago Women in Trades
Join CWIT for an evening showcasing the rich history of the tradeswomen’s movement. Visit the home of Chicago Women in Trades to hear stories from pioneering tradeswomen and engage with tradeswomen’s organizations from around the country that are at the heart of our groundbreaking movement. Learn about the strategies and programs that have opened doors for women to enter the skilled trades.
This is a FREE event, but registration is required.
EVENT DETAILS
Time: 5:00-9:00 p.m.
Location: 2444 W. 16th Street, Chicago, 60608
Transportation: Buses will transport participants from McCormick Place to Chicago Women in Trades and return to McCormick Place.
Parking is available for those who drive.
Format: The program begins at 5:30 p.m., followed by an education fair featuring self-directed stations.
Refreshments: Food and drinks will be provided.
Attendance limit: 200
REGISTRATION DEADLINE: Thursday, September 11, 2025

Chicago Labor History Tours
Tour guides: Illinois Labor History Society
Explore Chicago’s pivotal role in American labor history with guided bus tours to two iconic locations. Both tours will be offered in the morning and the afternoon.
FEE: $33.85 per tour (covers lunch and docents)
Attendance limit: 52 people per tour
Pick up and drop off location: McCormick Place – 2301 S. Prairie
EVENT DETAILS
TOUR 1: Haymarket / Packingtown
8:30 a.m.-12:15 p.m. | 1:00-4:40 p.m.
Haymarket
Visit two sites related to the two-year campaign for the eight-hour day, culminating in the general strike of 1886. When a bomb was thrown at a related rally, known as the Haymarket Incident, labor leaders involved in the campaign were framed, convicted and executed. The workers’ holiday known as Mayday has its roots in these events. Learn about the political culture of the day and its impact on the local labor movement and across the country.
Sites: The Haymarket Incident site and the graves of executed labor leaders at Forest Home Cemetery
Packingtown
For over a century, Chicago was often referred to as the “Hog Butcher to the World.” Learn about the repeated struggles to organize the workforce in the stockyards and packing houses during the first half of the last century, the need for integrated industrial unions, and the leadership roles Black people, women, and Latinas/os played. Discover the role of the United Packinghouse Workers of America (now part of the United Food and Commercial Workers) in the civil rights movement.
Sites: The stockyards gate, the firefighters’ memorial, and the packinghouse workers mural at the former UPWA District 1 headquarters
REGISTER FOR THIS TOUR:
Haymarket/Packingtown MORNING
Haymarket/Packingtown AFTERNOON
TOUR 2: Pullman Historic District and Steelmakers Park Tour
8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. | 1:00-5:00 p.m.
Pullman
Visit the former Gilded Age company town, where luxury train cars were built, providing good jobs and the best amenities, but no local democratic institutions. By 1894, workers suffered under the weight of the latest depression and went on strike. The strike soon evolved into a convulsive nationwide boycott involving 250,000 railroaders across 27 states, with Chicago coming under martial law for most of the summer of 1894. Some historians believe Labor Day emerged as a federal holiday as a result. Learn about the separate history of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and the Women’s Auxiliary organizing drive, under the leadership of A. Philip Randolph in the 1920s and ’30s.
Sites: National Park Service Visitors Center, Historic Pullman Foundation Exhibit Hall, and a brief walk around the town, now a thriving neighborhood in Chicago
Steel Memorials
For nearly a century, Southeast Chicago and Northwest Indiana produced the most steel in the world. Learn about the events surrounding the 1937 Memorial Day Massacre, when 10 people were killed and scores injured when Chicago Police opened fire on strikers attempting to form a picket line at Republic Steel. Occurring at the height of the organizing drive in steel mills across the country, this tragedy would play a role in the eventual founding of the United Steelworkers five years later.
Fast forward to the 1970s, where the USWA women’s caucus brought steelworker women together to fight for equal rights on the job, and against racial, gender, and pregnancy discrimination. Women found innovative ways, through health and safety campaigns, to build bridges with their male coworkers.
Sites: The Steelworkers Memorial Statue, located near the former site of the Republic Steel Mill, and Steelworkers Park, situated on the former site of U.S. Steel Southworks
REGISTER FOR THIS TOUR:
Pullman/Steelmakers Park MORNING
Pullman/Steelmakers Park AFTERNOON
Tour bus service is provided by AFL-CIO.

Roller Skating Social
Hosted by: Chicago Jobs With Justice
Join Jobs With Justice and connect with fellow conference attendees at a rollerskating party!
EVENT DETAILS COMING SOON!
Chicago Women in Trades at TWBN Conference
Chicago Women in Trades has submitted panel proposals for the Tradeswomen Build Nations conference. If our proposals are accepted, we’ll update this page with details about our presentations, including session topics, dates and times. Check back soon for updates on our participation in the conference!