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Events

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ILR School Hosts “Stories of Belonging” Immigration Project Exhibit

During the week of September 16th through September 20th, the ILR Worker Institute hosted an outdoor exhibit highlighting stories like these entitled “Stories of Belonging: Central American TPS Workers and the Defiant Struggle to Stay Home in the U.S.”
Worker Institute Executive Director Patricia Campos-Medina discussing the TPS Stories of Belonging project with Cornell students.
ILR School Hosts “Stories of Belonging” Immigration Project Exhibit

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 

“Stories of Belonging” Immigration Project Featured in NYC’s Photoville Festival

Cornell ILR’s Worker Institute (WI) will feature a community-engaged research project at the 13th Annual Photoville Festival at Brooklyn Bridge Park from June 1-16, 2024.
TPS
“Stories of Belonging” Immigration Project Featured in NYC’s Photoville Festival

News

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Meeting The Moment

On January 30, Labor Leadership Initiatives hosted a virtual gathering for alumni of the National Leadership Initiative (NLLI). Participants came together to discuss how they are adapting their leadership strategies within unions and organizations to tackle the current challenges facing workers, especially as their protections remain vulnerable.
Stepping into Power ULI 2024. Labor Leadership Initiatives
Meeting The Moment

Protecting Worker Rights Under Project 2025: The Changing Landscape on Immigration Enforcement & the Need for Worker Solidarity

On January 8th, 2025, the NYC Central Labor Council (CLC), in collaboration with the Worker Institute and Labor Leadership Initiatives at Cornell ILR, hosted a strategic conversation focused on the potential impacts of the upcoming Trump administration’s policies on workers' rights as outlined in Project 2025.
Worker Institute Protecting Worker Rights Under Project 2025 January 8, 2025; panelists discussing
Protecting Worker Rights Under Project 2025: The Changing Landscape on Immigration Enforcement & the Need for Worker Solidarity

ULI Spotlight: Christina Christman, President Federation of Social Workers IUE-CWA 81381, Monroe County

Christina is a Recipient of the 2024-25 NYS AFL-CIO Union L.E.A.D. Scholarship Christina says that the ULI has helped her reflect on issues such as union-busting tactics, the importance of robust Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) policies, and challenges in resource allocation.
Christina Christman
ULI Spotlight: Christina Christman, President Federation of Social Workers IUE-CWA 81381, Monroe County

Publications

Assessing the Impact of Prevailing Wage Benefits on Workers, Contractors, and the New York City Economy

This research report illustrates how PW laws might make union construction labor more cost effective than non-union construction labor for PW jobs.
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Assessing the Impact of Prevailing Wage Benefits on Workers, Contractors, and the New York City Economy

Unpaid Care Work and Its Impact on New Yorkers' Paid Employment

To explore current patterns of unpaid caregiving and its impact on New Yorkers’ paid employment, the Worker Institute has published a policy brief sharing relevant findings from the 2022 Empire State Poll, carried out by the Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations (ILR).
home care worker
Unpaid Care Work and Its Impact on New Yorkers' Paid Employment

Equity in Focus: Job Creation for a Just Society

This report explores these themes and discusses how policymakers, practitioners, and advocates are addressing the inequities in three sectors: the child care economy, the clean energy economy, and the construction trades, as presented in the Equity in focus—Job Creation for a Just Society series.
Women working during the pandemic
Equity in Focus: Job Creation for a Just Society

Reports

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Diminishing NYS Public Mental Health Sector

This report explores the effects that privatization and austerity have had on mental healthcare capacity in NYS & the employment & wages of public sector mental health workers. Research finds that the public sector mental healthcare workforce & the state’s mental healthcare capacity have decreased significantly between 1990 & 2021.
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Diminishing NYS Public Mental Health Sector

The Impact of Sexual Harassment and Gendered Violence on Workers in New York State

Workplace sexual harassment and violence have been put under the spotlight during the past five years, heightening public awareness of how pervasive these issues are. Amid this increased attention, policymakers, employers, and unions continue to grapple with the question of how to effectively respond.
Stop Sexual Harass. in NYS image
The Impact of Sexual Harassment and Gendered Violence on Workers in New York State

Pricing Standards

The ILR Worker Institute released a report in April 2022 entitled Unvarnished: Precarity and Poor Working Conditions for Nail Salon Workers in New York State that detailed the poor working conditions and low wages that nail salon workers in New York State face.
Wage Salon
Pricing Standards

Equity at Work

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Data Snapshots on Care Work, Online Platform Work, and Sexual Harassment in New York State

The Worker Institute recently published three data snapshots of findings to questions asked about the care economy, the experience of sexual harassment in the workplace, and work for online platforms. Read on for a preview of key findings with links to the three data snapshots.
A nurse tends to a wheelchair bound patient in her home
Data Snapshots on Care Work, Online Platform Work, and Sexual Harassment in New York State

Labor Standards Can Help Us Build Back Better

Cornell's Labor Leading on Climate team examines the American Jobs Plan and explains why the built-in labor standards are critical to the proposal’s success.
Labor Standards
Labor Standards Can Help Us Build Back Better

What’s Ahead for Teachers?

A year after COVID-19 disrupted education, Dean Alex Colvin and Randi Weingarten ’80 will discuss the future of K-12 teaching.
A female teacher wearing a mask puts hand sanitizer on a student
What’s Ahead for Teachers?

Lifting Worker Voices

See all stories in Lifting Worker Voices

Learning to lead: ILR institute trains the next generation of union organizers

Cornell Chronicle
A former sanitation worker, Hill is one of 32 labor professionals set to graduate June 6 from the AFL-CIO/Cornell-ILR Union Leadership Institute (ULI).
Ka’jeem Hill
Learning to lead: ILR institute trains the next generation of union organizers

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

ULI Alumni Shares His Leadership Path to Public Office

A spotlight on ULI alumni, Randy Brolo.
Randy Brolo - ULI alumni spotlight
ULI Alumni Shares His Leadership Path to Public Office

Profile of a Platform-Worker

Profile of a platform worker Espen Utne Landgraff, who lives and works in Oslo, Norway by journalist E. Tammy Kim.
Drawing of Espen Utne Landgraff by Molly Crabapple
Profile of a Platform-Worker

NLLI Facebook Live Interview Montserrat Garibay

National Labor Leadership Initiative Facebook Live Series: "How are NLLI Leaders Responding to the COVID-19 Crisis." Jennifer Beuthin interviewing Montserrat Garibay, the Secretary-Treasurer of the Texas AFL-CIO, Wednesday, July 15th.
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NLLI Facebook Live Interview Montserrat Garibay

NLLI Facebook Live Interview Siobhan Vipond

National Labor Leadership Initiative Facebook Live Series: "How are NLLI Leaders Responding to the COVID-19 Crisis." Jennifer Beuthin interviewing Siobhan Vipond, Secretary-Treasurer, Alberta Labour Federation. Wednesday, July 8th, 2020.
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NLLI Facebook Live Interview Siobhan Vipond

Labor Solidarity and Racial Injustice

See all stories in Labor Solidarity and Racial Injustice

Opinion – All Undocumented Immigrants Deserve Citizenship – Not Just Essential Workers

Shannon Gleeson outlines the situation faced by undocumented workers, and discusses potential futures for them including pathways to citizenship and their relationship.
man wearing a mask and high-vis vest riding a delivery bike
Opinion – All Undocumented Immigrants Deserve Citizenship – Not Just Essential Workers

The Intervention White America Needs

Tristan Ivory, Assistant Professor, International and Comparative Labor, writes about the history that led to this moment and direct actions to address systemic racism and poverty.
Protesters hold a sign saying "Boiling Point" during protests against the killing of George Floyd.
The Intervention White America Needs

About Violence and Resistance

Risa L. Lieberwitz, Professor of Labor and Employment Law, writes about the meaning and history of violence and resistance.
Photos of Tributes to Eric Gardner and Michael Brown.
About Violence and Resistance