Join us for a conversation on the role of migrant workers in the U.S. economy. Bringing together scholars and activists, the panel will examine how immigration laws and border enforcement function as tools of labor control, shape markets, and produce systemic vulnerability. The discussion will trace how these dynamics have intensified under the Trump administration amid the rise of ethnonationalism and increasingly punitive immigration policy, as well as how migrant workers have been pushing back and what forms of resistance have emerged. This event is of interest to all those studying labor, immigration, human rights, and social justice to better understand the intersection of migration policy, politics, and the everyday lives of migrant workers. Panelists Aly Wane is a human rights organizer based in Syracuse, New York. Originally from Senegal, he has worked on anti-war, economic, racial, and immigrant justice. He has been involved with the American Friends Service Committee, the Workers' Center of Central NY, and has been on the Board of the Alliance of Communities Transforming Syracuse, a politically progressive interfaith organization. He is a member of the Syracuse Peace Council and the Black Immigration Network, the Black Alliance for Just Immigration, and the UndocuBlack Network. He is currently on the advisory boards of the Immigrant Justice Network and Freedom University out of Georgia. Shannon Gleeson is professor of labor relations, law, and history in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations. Her research focuses on the labor rights of migrant workers and the enforcement of those rights, the vulnerabilities migrant workers face, migrant organizing and anti-capitalist currents within the immigrant rights movement, and the policing of migrant workers. M. Cornejo is an assistant professor in communication. Trained as an interpersonal communication researcher, Cornejo examines how legally stigmatized migrants’ communication strategies to obtain humanization and access to essential resources (e.g., education, health care access) alter their self-view, psychosocial health, general well-being, and social mobility in the U.S. Host This event is organized by the Migrations Program's undergraduate Migrations scholars. Don't miss our second event hosted by the Migrations scholars on April 22: From Colony to Diaspora: Enduring Legacies of U.S. Territorial Rule in Puerto Rico & the Philippines.
UNION DAYS 2025 Join us for this timely discussion on the power and impact of Black workers in the labor movement. The event begins at 4:30 p.m. in 115 Ives. Our featured speaker is: Michael Green, professor, Texas A&M University School of Law To see all Union Days events, click here.
Tuesday, April 22, 2025, at 4:45pm, 165 Statler Hall A.D. White Professor-at-Large Martín Caparrós will be joined by Department of Global Labor and Work Professors Santiago Anria and Candelaria Garay for a discussion in Spanish that examines Argentine President Javier Milei through the lens of emerging Latin American fascisms. Martín Caparrós (Buenos Aires, 1957) earned a degree in history in Paris, and worked as a journalist in print, radio, and television. He directed book and cooking magazines, translated Voltaire, Shakespeare, and Quevedo, and received the Guggenheim Fellowship, the Planeta and Herralde novel prizes, as well as the Tiziano Terzani, Roger Caillois, and Caballero Bonald essay awards. He also won the Rey de España, Moors Cabot, and Ortega y Gasset journalism prizes. He has published more than forty books in over thirty countries. His most recent works include the novels Sinfín and Sarmiento, the essays Ñamérica and El mundo entonces, and a peculiar semi-posthumous memoir titled Antes que nada. In 2023, Random House launched the “Biblioteca Martín Caparrós,” reissuing most of his works, starting with about 15 previous titles. Santiago Anria is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Global Labor and Work at Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations. His research focuses on the relationships between social movements, labor unions, and political parties in Latin America. He is the author of When Movements Become Parties: The Bolivian MAS in Comparative Perspective (Cambridge Studies in Comparative Politics, 2018) and Polarization and Democracy: Latin America After the Left Turn (co-authored with Kenneth M. Roberts, forthcoming with The University of Chicago Press). Santiago received his Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2015. He has held fellowships at Harvard University (2021-22) and Tulane University (2015-17). Candelaria Garay is an associate professor in the Department of Global Labor and Work at Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations. Her research interests include social policy, labor and social movements, and environmental policy. She is the author of Social Policy Expansion in Latin America, which received the 2017 Robert A. Dahl Award of the American Political Science Association and an honorable mention for the 2018 Bryce Wood Book Award of the Latin American Studies Association. She is working on a book titled Labor Coalitions in Unequal Societies. Previously, she was an associate professor at Universidad Torcuato Di Tella (Argentina) and at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. Caparrós visits Cornell as an A.D. White Professor-at-Large April 21-25, 2025.
Join us for our BeComing Lunch Series with Joaquin Rivera. BeComing is a space for discussion about personal experiences, successes, challenges, and growth – inside and outside of academic settings. Enjoy a catered lunch, free and open to all! Joaquin is a senior in the ILR School who minors in Classics and Southeast Asia Studies. Within ILR, he is most interested in studying international labor issues, and hopes to go into law or public policy in the future to help disadvantaged workers. On campus, he is involved in the Shakespeare Troupe, Chesterton House, Cru Cornell, Claritas, the Asian & Asian American Center, the Asian American Studies Program, and the Cornell Filipino Association. He loves seeking balance between academics, creative arts, and cultural heritage. Joaquin strives to embody the wisdom that he heard at a BeComing talk 2 years ago, that being 'you can meet someone new at Cornell everyday We strive to make our events accessible to everyone. For accommodation requests and information, please contact aasp@cornell.edu or aaac@cornell.edu.
UNION DAYS 2025 Please join us for a documentary screening, followed by Starbucks Workers United panel discussion. The Empty Chair follows the journey of Starbucks worker-organizers as they seek to unionize in the face of repression and hostility from the global coffee giant. Join us at 6 p.m. downtown Ithaca at the Cinemapolis, 120 E. Green Street. To see all Union Days events, click here.
UNION DAYS 2025 Join us for an exciting discussion of unionization and collective bargaining across the region. Attend in person in 105 Ives or live online at 4:30 p.m. Our featured speakers are: Tracey Harrison, Vice-president, SEIU 1199, United Healthcare Workers East Christine Johnson, President, UAW Local 2300 Kolya Vitek, Starbucks Workers United To see all Union Days events, click here.
Raffaella Sadun Training within Firms Training investments are essential for improving worker and firm productivity, yet their implementation is often hindered by low participation rates and insufficient worker engagement. This study uses data from three firms—a car manufacturer, a quick-service restaurant chain, and a retail company—to show that variation in training participation among employees is closely tied to differences in middle managers’ behavior and practices. Middle managers who actively engage with their employees and emphasize their well-being and development are associated with significantly higher participation in training programs. These managerial differences significantly influence employee performance and absenteeism, especially during periods of organizational change. Together, these findings underscore the importance of middle managers in bridging the gap between centrally designed HR policies and their effective on-the-ground execution.
New York City was the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, and nurses were on the frontlines. In the first months of the pandemic, nurses at the city’s public hospitals were hit particularly hard. They experienced a surge of patients and witnessed casualties on a scale they had never seen before. While struggling to learn how to treat this new, deadly infectious disease and to advocate for workplace protections for frontline healthcare workers, they managed to save hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers. We recently commemorated the five-year anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic. The scientific community has learned more about the virus and developed vaccines and better treatments; and COVID-19 is now endemic, driving seasonal patient surges in our hospitals. In this keynote, Judith Cutchin will examine the major lessons learned on the frontlines from a workers’ rights and public health perspective; from proper infection control, to just workers compensation and sick leave policies, to hospital preparedness, to long-term health impacts, to public health infrastructure. We will discuss what nurses, frontline healthcare workers, patients and the community at large still need to defend against COVID-19 and any other emerging public health threat in the current political environment. Dr. Judith Cutchin has been a nurse for over 30 years and is currently working as Head Nurse in the Specialty Practice at NYC Health+Hospitals / Woodhull Hospital where she is also the LBU president. She is committed to patient education and ensuring that all New Yorkers receive high-quality healthcare, regardless of ability to pay or immigration status. She is NYSNA's first vice president and has served on the NYSNA board since 2018. Dr Cutchin is the chair of NYSNA’s Committee on Social Justice and Civil Rights and also a vice president of NNU. This keynote opens a wider Cornell-based conference (May 5-7) on The Biopolitics of Global Health After Covid-19. For more information visit: https://www.biopoliticsofglobalhealth.com/ Or check the full conference program here. Host: Department of Romance Studies Cosponsors: The College of Arts and Sciences & Department of Anthropology
