ILR News Center

In early July, 65 representatives from the AFL-CIO attended a week-long leadership training program at the ILR Conference Center on Cornell's main campus in Ithaca, NY. Called the New York State AFL-CIO/Cornell Union Leadership Institute, this one-year program is for elected or appointed officers or senior staff who currently hold significant leadership responsibilities and are nominated for participation by their unions or central labor bodies. Those in attendance included new recruits just beginning the program, and those who began last July and will graduate at the conclusion of this week. Participating unions include CSEA, Laborers, TWU Local 100, UFCW, PEF, UAW, UFT, NYSUT, Writers Guild, Teamsters, IATSE, Musicians, Professional Staff Congress, SEIU Local 1199, IBEW, and DC 37.

The theme of the event was "Labor at a Crossroads: Transformation." Topics and speakers at the plenary sessions included:

• Challenges Now Facing Labor Leaders: The Need for Transformation. Speaker: Jeff Grabelsky, ILR School
• Union Transformation: Lessons from Labor History. Speaker: Alex Blair
• Union Transformation and Communities of Color. Speaker: Phil Thompson, MIT
• Leading Union Transformation. Speakers: Mel Horton, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers; Sharon Pinnock, American Federation of Government Employees
• Leading Labor Movement Transformation: The Role of the CLCs and ALFs. Speaker: Sandy Felder, AFL-CIO
• Leading Social Transformation. Speaker: Maria Neira, New York State United Teachers
• Individual Transformation as a Union Leader. Speakers: Roger Benson, Public Employees Federation; Lorraine Seidel, New York State Nurses Association 
• What Kind of Leaders Does Labor Need? Speaker: Denis Hughes, President, NYS AFL-CIO

In addition to the plenary sessions, attendees participated in the Leadership Challenge Course at the Cayuga Nature Center, met with their respective classes, engaged in self-assessment, and prepared for fieldwork projects. There was a graduation ceremony on Friday attended by the graduates' sponsors, with ILR's Dean Harry Katz as speaker.

The Institute is a competitive multi-union/multi-sector leadership program. The curriculum is designed in collaboration with New York's unions and participants are chosen and nominated by their unions. The Institute is structured to maximize the input of current union leadership in the development of new leaders. 

The curriculum consists of eight seminars over one year, including two week-long seminars during consecutive summers on Cornell's main campus. A weekend seminar is held every three months at various locations around the state, and in the final six months, each participant is working on their own on a fieldwork project of their own choosing. The program carries 12 units of college credit. 

For more information, please contact Fred Kotler, Director, NY State AFL-CIO/Cornell Union Leadership Institute, at fbk2@cornell.edu or 607-255-9191.