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New York at Work 2024

Annual Report

ILR’s annual Outreach report to policymakers and the public recaps some of our research-based data and policy analysis on issues affecting workers, unions, communities and employers

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Read the full report

AI and Data Science in the Workplace

The role of AI and data science on the future of work is a growing emphasis for ILR faculty research and teaching.

New research by Professor Virginia Doellgast is an example of how ILR faculty are studying the effects of new technology on the workplace. In her latest paper, Doellgast explores how workers can be protected from algorithmic management and AI abuses.

Read the story
Artificial Intelligence Conscience

Justice at Work: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

See more justice at work: diversity, equity and inclusion stories

Climate Jobs Institute Debuts In-Person Course on Climate Change Impacts and Solutions Through Labor and Equity Lens

On October 16th and 17th, Cornell ILR’s Climate Jobs Institute (CJI) debuted a two-day, in-person climate jobs course, “Building an Equitable, Resilient, and Unionized Clean Energy Economy.”
CJI training and education associate facilitating a class
Climate Jobs Institute Debuts In-Person Course on Climate Change Impacts and Solutions Through Labor and Equity Lens

Climate Jobs Institute to Host Panel on Infrastructure Funding and Green Jobs in New York and Puerto Rico at the 2024 SOMOS Conference

On Thursday, November 7th, at 10:30am, the Climate Jobs Institute (CJI) will co-host a panel discussion on “Infrastructure Funding and Green Jobs in New York and Puerto Rico” at the 2024 SOMOS INC Puerto Rico Conference.
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Climate Jobs Institute to Host Panel on Infrastructure Funding and Green Jobs in New York and Puerto Rico at the 2024 SOMOS Conference

“Stories of Belonging” Highlights Journeys of Central Americans

A traveling exhibit highlighting the intersections of racism, dispossession and migration grew out of LR Worker Institute Executive Director Patricia Campos-Medina’s doctoral thesis.
Jose Urias is featured in "Stories of Belonging"
“Stories of Belonging” Highlights Journeys of Central Americans

New York State: Economy, Policy, and Practice

See more stories about our work in New York State

As a New York land-grant college, we have a state mandate to apply our work in service to our local communities, state and regional economies, and partners in governance. We create and share knowledge, build relationships, and inform strategies aimed at improving economic well-being for all New Yorkers.

Coupling our strong physical foundations in Buffalo, Ithaca, and New York City with our rapidly expanding virtual presence in the COVID-19 era, our resources and infrastructure allow us to pursue local innovations that have global implications.

You Got a Social Security Overpayment Notice. Now What?

Social Security overpayments are often very costly, and they can be complex to address. Experts at the Yang-Tan Institute on Employment and Disability have prepared this fact sheet on how to navigate the issue if it happens to you.
Outstretched hand reaches out from a pile of papers to another hand
You Got a Social Security Overpayment Notice. Now What?

Employment of Justice-Impacted Youth with Disabilities

A new policy brief from the Yang-Tan Institute makes six recommendations for policy changes to improve employment outcomes for formerly incarcerated young adults with disabilities in New York state.
An auto mechanic gives hands-on training to two students
Employment of Justice-Impacted Youth with Disabilities

State Impact Day Highlights Outreach Research

The day-long Sept. 27 meeting in King-Shaw Hall at ILR drew state legislative staffers and representatives of the governor’s office and the state Department of Labor. It included presentations from ILR Outreach faculty based in New York City, Ithaca and Buffalo.
NY State Capital building
State Impact Day Highlights Outreach Research

A driving principle behind our research, teaching, training, and practice is that everyone deserves fair and equal access to jobs, housing, healthcare, and other means for achieving economic security. Our work seeks solutions that remove inequitable barriers to economic opportunities, whether those barriers occur within an individual workplace or at the structural levels of our political and economic systems.

You can see a handful of our recent work below.

For Many Disabled People, Work Has a Price Tag

Discovering that you owe the government thousands of dollars in Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) overpayments can be life-disrupting. These overpayments happen at no fault of the beneficiary. Jennifer Brooks, a researcher at the Cornell ILR School's Yang-Tan Institute on Employment and Disability, provides a personal account of this issue.
Photo of woman in a wheelchair at a table with laptop and letters beside her.
For Many Disabled People, Work Has a Price Tag

HR Tool Helps Job Applicants With Criminal Records Land Jobs

Cornell Chronicle
Cornell Human Resources plans to roll out a pilot of Restorative Records, an online tool where job applicants with criminal records can provide context about their past and details about their rehabilitation.
Barbed wire at the top of a prison wall
HR Tool Helps Job Applicants With Criminal Records Land Jobs

WI Faculty Awarded Einhorn Center Fellowship to Publish Research on Domestic Workers

Zoë West, senior researcher for worker rights and equity at Cornell ILR’s The Worker Institute (WI), has been selected as one of the Engaged Faculty Fellows for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Zoe West
WI Faculty Awarded Einhorn Center Fellowship to Publish Research on Domestic Workers

Collective Representation and Worker Voice

See more stories about collective representation workers' voices

We were founded to study and improve the world of work. We have strong research roots in labor relations and negotiations, and our work with varying communities comes from our commitment to understanding collective representation, the perspectives of workers, and improving workers' lives.

Worker Center Innovation in Upstate New York 

On October 25th, in Syracuse, New York, more than 8 upstate organizations gathered for an event to strategize on building long-term worker power in their region.
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Worker Center Innovation in Upstate New York 

Student Project: TCAT Workers Prepare to Negotiate a New Contract

TCAT workers discuss the importance of their role in people’s lives. Amidst contract negotiations, they highlight staff shortages, overtime and burnout. They also mention wages and cost of living in Ithaca. Riley Xian and Jenna Lea, students in the Ithaca Co-Lab at the Cornell ILR School, produced this video.
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Student Project: TCAT Workers Prepare to Negotiate a New Contract

ILR Panel Discusses Collective Bargaining in Women’s Professional Hockey

A discussion focused on the evolution of, and challenges facing, women’s professional hockey was hosted on Monday by ILR International Visiting Fellow Kelly Pike, ’03, Ph.D. ’14.
Kelly Pike, ’03, Ph.D. ’14, Digit Murphy, CALS ’83, Brianne Jenner, A&S ’15, and David Doorey
ILR Panel Discusses Collective Bargaining in Women’s Professional Hockey

Leadership Development

We work with communities, organizations, departments and companies – all to help develop leaders who will make workplaces and employment itself better. Foundations in management and collective bargaining, and our 75 years in industry put us in a unique position to help develop leaders in business, labor and policy.

CAHRS

Center for Advanced Human Resource Studies

CAHRS is the world's leading partnership between industry and academia, devoted to global human resource management. The CAHRS partnership connects leading companies to Cornell University, the ILR School, and leading faculty, students and intellectual leaders throughout the world.

several towers from Cornell's Ithaca campus
Visit CAHRS

Labor Leadership Training

We work with union leaders at national and state levels to develop training programs for aspiring and established leaders within the labor field.

Explore labor leadership programs

Senior Leader Programs

We bring together world-class faculty with business and industry leaders to design and deliver training systems that develop HR, business and management leaders. Learn from world-class faculty dedicated to HR research and driving organizational performance.

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Find out more about our senior leadership training

Climate Jobs Institute Leads New York Legislative and Labor Leaders on Educational Delegation to Sweden

In late September, the Cornell ILR Climate Jobs Institute (CJI) led an educational delegation of New York State legislative and labor leaders to Stockholm, Sweden.
NYS delegates at the Swedish Parliament with Members of Parliament Monica Hader and Adrian Magnusson
Climate Jobs Institute Leads New York Legislative and Labor Leaders on Educational Delegation to Sweden

Cleaning Up Criminal Records: CJEI Event to Walk Through New Clean Slate Act

On Nov. 18, Cornell ILR’s Criminal Justice and Employment Initiative (CJEI) will cohost an event at Tompkins County Public Library in Ithaca, NY, to educate the public on New York State’s upcoming Clean Slate Act.
Hand pointing to workbook
Cleaning Up Criminal Records: CJEI Event to Walk Through New Clean Slate Act

More Complaints, Worse Performance When AI Monitors Work

Cornell Chronicle
Organizations using AI to monitor employees’ behavior and productivity can expect them to complain more, be less productive and want to quit more – unless the technology can be framed as supporting their development, ILR research finds.
An image of magnifying glasses hover over a worker at a desk.
More Complaints, Worse Performance When AI Monitors Work

ILR in the News

Our work from the media

See more ILR news coverage

Climate Activists Are Hot and Bothered by the Industry’s Lack of Cohesion

Yahoo News
Cornell Global Labor Institute’s executive director, Jason Judd, joined Pakistani denim mill Crescent Bahuman Limited’s advisor of sustainability, Naurin Muzaffar, for a panel titled “Climate Change and Industry Impact” at Sourcing Journal’s Fall 2024 Summit.
Climate Activists Are Hot and Bothered by the Industry’s Lack of Cohesion

2nd Trump term to spur shift in strategy for labor movement

Kate Bronfenbrenner, director of Labor Education Research, discusses the challenges unions may face in the next four years. 
2nd Trump term to spur shift in strategy for labor movement

Could AI be used to replace striking workers?

Fast Company
Virginia Doellgast, professor of employment relations and dispute resolution, explains that labor unions are just beginning to negotiate over the use of AI.
Could AI be used to replace striking workers?