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West Side resident Bob Jahnke, a longtime member of the PUSH Community Development Committee, walks through one of the community gardens in his neighborhood.

Collective Representation and Worker Voice

Union Days Kicks Off with Keynote by Randi Weingarten ’80

Cornell ILR's Union Days begins Tuesday, March 5, with "Unions, Labor, and Freedom of Expression," a presentation given by Randi Weingarten ’80.
Randi Weingarten
Union Days Kicks Off with Keynote by Randi Weingarten ’80

Constitutional Law Expert Discusses Free Speech in the Workplace

Charlotte Garden, professor of law at the University of Minnesota, presented “The Constitution and the Workplace: Exploring How the First Amendment Impacts Workers.”
Charlotte Garden giving a lecture in Ives Hall
Constitutional Law Expert Discusses Free Speech in the Workplace

ILR Trio Secures Grant to Study Health Care Unions in the South

A new grant awarded by the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation will fund an interdisciplinary team featuring MIT and Tougaloo College scholars.
A tired Black nurse looks out a window
ILR Trio Secures Grant to Study Health Care Unions in the South

SAVE THE DATE! Generating Equity: Pathways to Union Careers in Clean Energy Conference

Mark your calendars for the Climate Jobs Institute’s upcoming statewide conference, Generating Equity: Pathways to Union Careers in Clean Energy, in Albany, NY, on March 1-2, 2024.
Union woman worker wearing a hard hat and standing in front of solar panels
SAVE THE DATE! Generating Equity: Pathways to Union Careers in Clean Energy Conference

New Climate Jobs Institute Report Sees Clean Economy on the Horizon via Apprenticeship Readiness

Cornell ILR's Climate Jobs Institute celebrated the launch of its new report, “Building an Equitable, Diverse & Unionized Clean Energy Economy: What We Can Learn from Apprenticeship Readiness” on November 30th.
Panelists at the pre-apprenticeship report launch
New Climate Jobs Institute Report Sees Clean Economy on the Horizon via Apprenticeship Readiness

Bronfenbrenner Partnering with HBCUs to Study Black Worker Organizing

Cornell Chronicle
Kate Bronfenbrenner, Jobs with Justice and the Center for Economic Policy Research have secured a $450,000 grant from WorkRise for a project to improve economic security and mobility for low-wage workers and create a more equitable labor market in the South.
Kate Bronfenbrenner headshot
Bronfenbrenner Partnering with HBCUs to Study Black Worker Organizing

Custodian to National Union Leader: an ILRie’s Journey

An ILR student helped establish the United Auto Workers Local 2300, which now represents Cornell building maintenance and service workers.
Al Davidoff ’80
Custodian to National Union Leader: an ILRie’s Journey

Remembering the Triangle Fire

The Kheel Center, ILRies and Cornellians carry on the collective action legacy that grew from the Triangle Factory Fire disaster.
Cornell students at the Triangle Fire memorial
Remembering the Triangle Fire

AFT/ Cornell - Scheinman Institute Collective Bargaining Certificate

The AFT/Cornell - Scheinman Institute Collective Bargaining Certificate Program has trained over 400 participants.
Randi Weingarten, President of the AFT
AFT/ Cornell - Scheinman Institute Collective Bargaining Certificate

General Counsel of the NLRB Urges Employees to Come to Her Agency to Protect Their Labor Rights

The NLRB General Counsel and labor experts with ties to Buffalo discussed recent organizing statistics, unfair labor practices and strikes in the U.S., the possibility of the PRO Act, employer responses to increased unionization, nonprofit organizing efforts, and more.
Jennifer Abruzzo NLRB GC speaks into mic
General Counsel of the NLRB Urges Employees to Come to Her Agency to Protect Their Labor Rights

Amazon Labor Organizers Encourage Solidarity

For more than 300 days, Amazon workers talked with their peers to build relationships, trust and, ultimately, a union that many thought would never be possible, Amazon Labor Union leaders said at ILR during Union Days.
Chris Small speaks at 2013 Union Days
Amazon Labor Organizers Encourage Solidarity

A Conversation with Jennifer Abruzzo, President Biden’s General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board

Please join Cornell University ILR Buffalo Co-Lab on June 6, 2023, from 10-12:30pm for an in-person discussion with featured speaker, Jennifer Abruzzo, General Counsel, NLRB alongside leaders in the Labor Movement with ties to Buffalo.
CWA Protest in Buffalo
A Conversation with Jennifer Abruzzo, President Biden’s General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board

ILRie Leading Hollywood Writers

Ellen Stutzman ’04 is at the center of 11,500 striking screenwriters whose union is picketing Netflix, Amazon, Apple, Disney, Universal and Paramount.
Writers Guild members strike in front of NBC
ILRie Leading Hollywood Writers

Union Days Features National Leaders

The public is invited to ILR School “Talkin’ Union” events featuring speakers whose experiences reflect contemporary labor movement struggles and successes.
Amazon headquarters in Seattle, Wash.
Union Days Features National Leaders

Union Days 2023

Union Days begin March 15 with "Unions on Campus," a presentation and panel discussion with members from different university worker organizations.
United Student Group
Union Days 2023

Strikes up 52% in 2022: Labor Action Tracker

The ILR School database that documents U.S. work stoppages informs journalists, policymakers, activists, scholars and the public about labor activism and unrest.
Labor action tracker map
Strikes up 52% in 2022: Labor Action Tracker

Tretter ’13 and Katz Discuss Union Leadership

Union leadership during a volatile labor-management period will be discussed by NFLPA President JC Tretter '13 and Professor Harry Katz in a Nov. 1 webinar.
Two football teams at the line of scrimmage
Tretter ’13 and Katz Discuss Union Leadership

Tretter ’13, Katz Discuss Union Leadership

As president of the National Football League Players Association, JC Tretter ’13 utilizes his ILR training to lift players’ voices.
Harry Katz and JC Tretter appearing in an eCornell keynote.
Tretter ’13, Katz Discuss Union Leadership

ILRie Leads Cornell Votes Group

Patrick Mehler ’23, a senior in the ILR School and an alderperson on the City of Ithaca’s Common Council, is a founding member and president of Cornell Votes.
Patrick J. Mehler
ILRie Leads Cornell Votes Group

Moment or Movement? Organizing Superstars Speak Out

Jaz Brisack, Simon Rosenblum-Larson, Jessica Garcia and Heather Goodall shared their insights about the organizing process and workers’ goals at a panel on campus.
Jaz Brisack, one of the main leaders of organizing efforts at Starbucks
Moment or Movement? Organizing Superstars Speak Out

Avgar Named David M. Cohen Professor

The professorship in labor relations was endowed this year through a generous gift from David M. Cohen ’73 and Abby Joseph Cohen, A&S '73.
Missing alt
Avgar Named David M. Cohen Professor

Student Receives Grant to Study Strike Impact

Johnnie Kallas started the ILR Labor Action Tracker, which tracks labor strikes across the country, and is now also studying their effectiveness.
Johnnie Kallas
Student Receives Grant to Study Strike Impact

Fixed-Duration Strikes Can Revitalize Labor

Cornell Chronicle
New ILR School research indicates that “fixed-duration” strikes can help unions counteract increasing employer power.
Strike signs
Fixed-Duration Strikes Can Revitalize Labor

Insights Offered by Experts and Tracker Data

ILR offers research-based perspectives and one-the-ground experiences that inform breaking workplace news.
map of United States with strike locations marked
Insights Offered by Experts and Tracker Data

HR in Hospitality Conference Addresses Pandemic Concerns

The 2022 National HR in Hospitality Conference, organized by Cornell's ILR and Hotel schools, brought together over 300 industry professionals and addressed how the pandemic affected the hotel industry.
HR in Hospitality logo
HR in Hospitality Conference Addresses Pandemic Concerns

What is to be Done About Workplace Health and Safety?

Martin Scheinman, Randi Weingarten, and Jessica Martinez analyze workplace health and safety issues.
woman wearing ppe putting on mask
What is to be Done About Workplace Health and Safety?

CNBC: Starbucks union asks coffee giant to extend pay hikes, benefits to unionized stores

Catherine Creighton, director of the Buffalo Co-Lab, says the law requires companies to give a union notice of a new benefit and the opportunity to bargain over it.
Screenshot of CNBC article.
CNBC: Starbucks union asks coffee giant to extend pay hikes, benefits to unionized stores

Weingarten '80 Reelected to Union Presidency

ILR alumna leading 1.7million-member American Federation of Teachers for eighth term.
Randi Weingarten
Weingarten '80 Reelected to Union Presidency

Overlooked, Undervalued: Cornell Research Seeks to Elevate Home Care Workers

Cornell Chronicle
Professor Ariel Avgar, Ph.D. ’08 is part of an ambitious, multidisciplinary research program aimed at elevating the value of home care workers.
A home health aid and her patient on a telemedicine call
Overlooked, Undervalued: Cornell Research Seeks to Elevate Home Care Workers

ILR’s Worker Institute Helps Guide a Newly Energized Labor Movement

Cornellians
Led by Patricia Campos-Medina ’96, MPA ’97, it conducts research and outreach on today’s rapidly changing employment landscape
Patricia Campos-Medina ’96, MPA ’97
ILR’s Worker Institute Helps Guide a Newly Energized Labor Movement

Politico: Teachers unions hit the Hill ahead of gun safety votes

Patricia Campos-Medina, executive director of the Worker Institute, says the debate around gun rights and gun legislation in America is difficult for labor leaders to maneuver.
Screenshot of Politico article.
Politico: Teachers unions hit the Hill ahead of gun safety votes

Two ILRies leading Outreach institutes are informing the national conversation around the historic union organizing shift.

Cathy Creighton, director of the ILR Buffalo Co-Lab, and Patricia Campos-Medina, executive director of ILR’s Worker Institute, have been putting their ILR education and experience to work in roles they now hold at the school.
ILR signs outside Ives
Two ILRies leading Outreach institutes are informing the national conversation around the historic union organizing shift.

CNBC: The Amazon, Starbucks, Apple union push is capturing what a majority of all American workers now say they want

“I’m of the school that says there is something happening, but no indication yet it is even going to amount to a sizable increase in the level of unionization,” says Harry Katz, director of the Scheinman Institute.
Screenshot of CNBC article.
CNBC: The Amazon, Starbucks, Apple union push is capturing what a majority of all American workers now say they want

AP: Unionized Starbucks stores face hard work of bargaining

U.S. labor law doesn’t set a deadline, or require that a contract be reached at all. “The overall approach with the law is to encourage the parties to reach an agreement that they both can live with,” said Risa Lieberwitz, academic director of the Worker Institute.
Joe Thompson stands in front of Starbucks in Santa Cruz, Calif., on May 20, 2022.
AP: Unionized Starbucks stores face hard work of bargaining

Healthcare Insights: Workplace Innovation In New York’s Public Health Care System

John August and Lily Mackey explore how the doctors' union impacted working conditions at New York City Health and Hospitals system
Image of a nurse putting on a mask.
Healthcare Insights: Workplace Innovation In New York’s Public Health Care System

Vox: Why unions are growing and shrinking at the same time

“For a long time, there was a belief you couldn’t organize low-wage workers or part-time workers,” says Patricia Campos-Medina, director of the ILR Worker Institute. “Industry has changed. Our economy has changed.”
Starbucks workers rallied in Seattle to protest the company’s union-busting efforts.
Vox: Why unions are growing and shrinking at the same time

Yahoo Finance: Amazon Labor Union says 'the fight has just begun' after defeat in Staten Island

According to Harry Katz, Director of the Scheinman Institute, media relations will be a lever that the ALU can and should pull, as they need to “supplement strike leverage with public relations."
Screenshot of Yahoo Finance article.
Yahoo Finance: Amazon Labor Union says 'the fight has just begun' after defeat in Staten Island

From Retail to Tech to Universities: Unionizing for Equity in all Workplaces

Join us on Friday, April 29th, 2022 at 2:30 p.m. for a Union Days event, "From Retail to Tech to Universities: Unionizing for Equity in all Workplaces." In-person on our Ithaca campus and virtually.
Students Protesting
From Retail to Tech to Universities: Unionizing for Equity in all Workplaces

Director's Update: What's next at Amazon and Starbucks?

Scheinman Director Harry Katz discusses the impact of Amazon and Starbucks unionization efforts.
Image of Scheinman Institute Director Harry Katz.
Director's Update: What's next at Amazon and Starbucks?

Healthcare Insights by John August

John August explains how empowering workers leads to better healthcare for patients.
A group of nurses and doctors poses for a photo.
Healthcare Insights by John August

Unions are having a moment. Here’s how that can be good for labor and business.

Institute Director Harry Katz wrote an article for Fortune.com on how labor and management can achieve win-win outcomes.
Starbucks
Unions are having a moment. Here’s how that can be good for labor and business.

Wall Street Journal: Starbucks Prepares to Expand Worker Benefits That Might Exclude Unionized Staff

“It’s a union avoidance technique,” Buffalo Co-Lab director Cathy Creighton said, referring to employers discussing benefits that won’t automatically extend to unionized workers.
A Starbucks in Buffalo, N.Y., whose staff has voted to unionize.
Wall Street Journal: Starbucks Prepares to Expand Worker Benefits That Might Exclude Unionized Staff

CNN: Can Wall Street and labor unions learn to get along?

"Since the 1980s, management's perspective was that unions are the devil," said Harry Katz, professor of collective bargaining and director of the Scheinman Institute. 
Starbucks employees at a New York store vote to unionize.
CNN: Can Wall Street and labor unions learn to get along?

Vox: Congrats! You formed a union. Now comes the hard part.

“I think it’s going to lead to more [organizing] but I don’t think it’s yet an indication of a massive turnaround,” says Harry Katz, professor in the ILR School.
Amazon Labor Union workers celebrate their election win on April 1.
Vox: Congrats! You formed a union. Now comes the hard part.

Starbucks Organizing Discussion April 22

"The Moment for a Movement: Starbucks and the Slow Drip of Starting a Union" is a Union Days event.
Newly organized Starbucks workers celebrate.
Starbucks Organizing Discussion April 22

ILR Research Informs Multiple Audiences

ILR’s teaching and outreach is based on the school’s research, which scholars, students, journalists and the public rely on to inform their work.
ILR's King-Shaw Hall
ILR Research Informs Multiple Audiences

Labor Tracker Serves as Resource

As labor unrest continues to surge, the ILR Labor Action Tracker founded in 2021 continues to provide nationwide information on strikes and other worker actions.
2021 Tracker Statistics
Labor Tracker Serves as Resource

Book Launch: The Future We Need: Organizing for a Better Democracy in the Twenty-First Century

Join us on May 2nd at 11 AM EST for an in-person and virtual book launch of The Future We Need: Organizing for a Better Democracy in the Twenty-First Century, written by Erica Smiley and Sarita Gupta that will be livestreamed.
People protesting
Book Launch: The Future We Need: Organizing for a Better Democracy in the Twenty-First Century

The Moment for a Movement: Starbucks and the Slow Drip of Starting a Union

Learn the ins and outs of how to unionize a workplace and what legal methods Starbucks has used to delay the votes. In-person event, free and open to the public.
Starbucks Coffee
The Moment for a Movement: Starbucks and the Slow Drip of Starting a Union

AP: Disney in balancing act as some workers walk out in protest

In response to Disney’s handling of Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill, workers are threatening a full-day walkout. Patricia Campos-Medina says, “people felt surprised that they [Disney] wanted to stay quiet on this issue,” because Disney has long been influential in Florida politics and social issues.
Disney cast member Nicholas Maldonado protests his company's stance on LGBTQ issues, while participating in an employee walkout at Walt Disney World, Tuesday, March 22, 2022, in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.
AP: Disney in balancing act as some workers walk out in protest

Tretter Re-Elected President of NFL Union

ILR alumnus continues to make his mark as leader of the National Football League Players Association.
JC Tretter on the field during pre-game warm-ups with the Cleveland Browns (Erik Drost).
Tretter Re-Elected President of NFL Union