ILR News Center

The New York State AFL-CIO/Cornell Union Leadership Institute hosted 75 officers and staff from public and private sector unions in New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey during the Institute's seventh annual Summer Seminar July 15-21, at the ILR School in Ithaca. 

The summer program, the largest of six ULI seminars held during the year, joined the incoming Class of 2008 with the graduating Class of 2007. The weeklong event included informative plenary sessions, challenging workshops, presentation of graduates' Fieldwork Projects, and social events. A highlight of the week was the annual ULI Graduation Ceremony and banquet at the Statler Hotel that included an address by ILR Dean Harry Katz. 

"The Union Leadership Institute, and this conference in particular, provides a forum for union leaders to hone skills and frankly discuss issues and challenges facing labor in New York, the region, and the nation," said Fred Kotler, ULI director and ILR senior extension associate. "But it is more than that. It’s about building lasting relationships among leaders from various unions, industries, both public and private sectors. We want to strengthen the labor movement by cultivating a community of leaders who have had this common experience, who know each other, who can work together, who understand that what unites unions and working people is greater than what divides them. We're privileged to provide this service at the ILR School and honored to do so in partnership with the New York State AFL-CIO and state fed President Denis Hughes."

Plenary Sessions and Workshops: New Opportunities for Labor

During morning plenary sessions, ILR faculty and guest speakers examined various aspects of the conference theme, New Opportunities for Labor. ILR's Jeff Grabelsky analyzed the current political climate as an historic opportunity for union revitalization and the reemergence of a pro-worker political agenda. ILR Professor Ileen DeVault provided historical context, discussed labor’s situation in the 1920s and the 1930s, and conducted an innovative role-play reenactment with all conference participants of the 1935 AFL convention. Leslie Moody, President of the Denver Area Labor Federation and Executive Director for the Partnership for Working Families, shared her experience as a leader of labor-community alliances that shift political and economic power toward working people. Noted author and activist Janice Fine, professor at the School of Management and Labor Relations, Rutgers University, led a session on innovative approaches broadening labor's reach to immigrant and unrepresented workers. ILR Associate Dean Susanne Bruyère attended sessions and events during the week.

Conference participants moved to their respective workshops for afternoon sessions. Jeff Grabelsky, assisted by ILR's Sally Klingel, engaged the senior Class of '07 in a four-day intensive course on regional power building that included role plays based on a realistic case study. ILR's Sally Alvarez and Ken Margolies conducted a weeklong session with the Class of ’08 that included discussions of union ethics and a case study challenging leaders to make tough, strategic choices. Former AFL-CIO Regional Director and current labor consultant Joe Alvarez led '08 participants through an analysis of leadership styles. In what has become a popular ULI tradition, the incoming class faced team and individual challenges at the Cayuga Nature Center ropes course.

Graduation Honors and Awards

All conference participants and guests attended the annual ULI Graduation Ceremony on Friday evening, July 20. Following a photo Salute to the Class of 2007, ILR Dean Harry Katz recognized graduates' achievements both at the Institute and as labor leaders. Hector Fuentes, Organizing Coordinator, Laborers Eastern Region, selected by classmates as Class Graduation Speaker, delivered a particularly thoughtful and impassioned reflection on his experience as an immigrant worker, activist, organizer and leader. View the Salute to Class of 2007 presentation (pdf).

Institute Director Fred Kotler and Associate Director Lee Adler presented graduation certificates as well as awards for best Fieldwork Projects and academic achievement. Two teams comprised of nine graduates were selected by their classmates for best Fieldwork Projects. Top honors went to a seven-member team from the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1776 and to a two- member team from the Laborers International Union of North America.

The UFCW Fieldwork Project team was honored for their innovative work – developing an internal organizing program, including internships, to activate young members and to attract workers from the particularly young workforce within their industry. Members of the UFCW team: President Wendell Young IV; Legal Director Ed Chew; Executive VP Nicholas Farina; Lead Agent Representative Mark Layer; Strategic Programs Coordinator Leonard Purnell; and Lead Agent John Rusak, all of Local 1776, together with Service Representative Fallon Ager of UFCW /RWDSU Local 338.

Fieldwork Project honors also went to the Laborers team of Lead Organizer Joe Rizzo and Organizer Anthony Williamson. Guided by the objective "to provide careers not just create jobs," this project built – and continues to build -long-term relationships between the union and the underemployed Coney Island community in Brooklyn.

For the first time this year, Institute faculty awarded special awards for academic achievement and outstanding contributions to seminars and Institute programming. Achievement Awards went to Leonard Purnell, UFCW 1776, Michelle Pancoe, Assistant to the President, Williamsville Teachers Association [NYSUT], and John Diaz, Chairman, Board of Trustees, International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees [IATSE] Local 1.

During the graduation ceremony, Institute faculty and participants recognized the critical conference work performed by ILR staff including Institute Coordinator Anne Sieverding, Claudia Strednak and Devon Sanger.