We in COFTU have signed the petition explained by Teamsters Mobilize below.
Join us to demand that Labor Notes reverse their ban of Teamsters Mobilize member Colleen Donovan from the 2026 Labor Notes conference: bit.ly/labornotesban
On Friday, April 24th, 2026 Teamsters Mobilize Steering Committee member Colleen Donovar received an email from Labor Notes stating:
“Dear Colleen, We will not be able to accommodate vou at the 2026 Labor Notes Conference in Chicago. We have refunded your ticket in full. You should receive your refund within a few business days. Best, Labor Notes Registration Team”
While Labor Notes provided no explanation in their email to Colleen, we think it’s obvious that they banned her because of her role in Teamsters Mobilize. TM has been consistently critical of the Teamsters union leadership under President Sean O’Brien and of the leadership of Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU). Since TDU supported O’Brien’s run for office in 2021, its leadership has continued to back O’Brien despite his blatant betrayal of Teamsters members and support for ruling class attacks on workers like ICE’s cold-blooded murder of Renee Good.
So how did TDU respond to our criticisms? In summer 2024, their leadership rescinded the membership of another TM Steering Committee member, Jess Lister, who previously ran for the TDU Steering Committee. Our petition with over 130 signatures to reinstate Jess as a member of TDU was completely ignored by them. Later, they summarily banned all TM members from the 2025 TDU Convention!
Labor Notes shares an office with TDU and both Labor Notes and TDU receive funding from the Social Justice & Solidarity Fund, which TDU Co-Founder, Ken Paff, sits on the board of. Up unti now, TM members have not faced any explicit repression from Labor Notes (although we were denied a table this year) and many of TM’s members attended the 2024 conference. Now the Labor Notes leadership appears to be cracking down on militants in the labor movement at a time when the US working class is facing ever greater attacks from the ruling class. Labor Notes actions clearly demonstrate which side they are taking in that struggle.
We must take a stand against this decision by LN leadership now!