December 20, 2023

NALC selects convention venues for 2028, 2030

The NALC Executive Council has selected the sites and dates for the 2028 and 2030 national conventions. The council voted to hold the 75th convention in Minneapolis, MN, July 31-Aug. 4, 2028, and the 76th convention in Honolulu, HI, Aug. 19-23, 2030. The 2024 convention will be held in Boston and the 2026 convention will be held in Los Angeles.

 Following an announcement seeking bids from branches that wish to host a national convention, only Honolulu Branch 860 submitted an offer to host a future convention. The 2020 convention scheduled to be held in Honolulu was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Certain minimum requirements are crucial for potential host cities to make a successful bid for a convention that can bring between 5,500 and 8,000 delegates—requirements that eliminate many cities that lack the facilities large enough to hold a NALC convention. To find and help the Executive Council select potential sites, the Convention Site Committee considers the following criteria:

• The convention facilities must be unionized and have theater seating for approximately 8,000 delegates, as well as space for registration, workshops and more.
• NALC requires at least 3,500 hotel rooms, with preference given to hotels with a unionized workforce.
• All of these must be available during NALC’s constitutionally mandated convention window, between the Fourth of July and the third full week of August.

After eliminating many cities because they could not meet the requirements mentioned above, the Convention Site Committee visited four cities up for consideration for the two conventions. The committee recommended that 2028’s be in the eastern part of the country and that 2030’s be in the western part of the country.

The Convention Site Committee provided site reports for the 2028 convention for Philadelphia, Detroit and Minneapolis, and for the 2030 convention for Honolulu. Honolulu was given first consideration because of the cancellation of the 2020 convention. Had the proposal from Honolulu not been acceptable to the Executive Council, the Convention Site Committee would have provided other possible cities for consideration.