November 10 2008
Strategic Leadership
Union President Hansen visits ILR as Leader in Residence
Joe Hansen, president of United Food and Commercial Workers Union, will visit the ILR School Nov. 17-18 as the fall semester Alice B. Grant Labor Leader in Residence.
His Nov. 17 presentation at ILR’s Collective Bargaining Workshop is free and open to the public. From 4:30 to 5:45 p.m. in 111 Ives Hall, the talk is entitled “United Food and Commercial Workers’ Strategic Priorities -- Poised for Growth.”
More information is available through Professor Richard Hurd at rwh8@cornell.edu.
The United Food and Commercial Workers Union represents 1.3 million Americans and Canadians in retail groceries, meatpacking, food processing and other industries.
Hansen is also president of Union Network International, a Switzerland-based
federation of 900 unions from more than 100 countries. It represents 15.5 million members.
Through his roles at both organizations, Hansen oversees a campaign to organize Wal-Mart workers around the world. Wal-Mart is ranked by many as the largest private employer in the world and as a world leader in corporate revenues.
Alice Grant was one of the founders of the ILR School's Extension division, and a leader of ILR’s early efforts to build a strong outreach and educational program for trade unionists.
Former Alice B. Grant Labor Leaders in Residence include AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers President Jack Sheinkman, Pride at Work Co-President Nancy Wohlforth, Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance President Kent Wong and Congress of South Africa Trade Unions Regional Secretary Tony Ehrenreich.