LAWCHA also works to promote the teaching of workers' history in public elementary and secondary schools, and seeks to foster the preservation of historic sites important to the labor movement.
At a caucus of interested historians at the 1997 North American Labor History Conference in Detroit, Michigan, participants decided to form a new association.
The organizing committee presented the draft constitution to the founding members of LAWCHA at the 1998 North American Labor History Conference.
LAWCHA grew steadily throughout 1999, and held its first public meetings as part of a panel at the 1999 North American Labor History Conference.
LAWCHA quickly began hosting an extensive program of activities at various history conferences in the U.S. and Canada.
LAWCHA's other past presidents have included former James Green, Alice Kessler-Harris, Michael Honey, Shelton Stromquist, and Nancy MacLean.
According to Leon Fink, the former editor of Labor History, the principal issue was maintaining the journal's editorial independence.
LAWCHA's then-president, James Green negotiated an agreement which led to the founding of Labor: Studies in Working-Class History of the Americas.
In Spring 2011 LAWCHA met in Atlanta, Georgia, in conjunction with the Southern Labor Studies Association.
In May 2015, LAWCHA co-sponsored a conference with The Working Class Studies Association at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.