Ithaca Cornell Campus at dusk

ILR Hosts ILERA Conference on Transition to EVs

Outreach

The ILR School hosted a two-day ILERA conference that explored labor and the transition to electric vehicles. Organized in part by Ian Greer, director of the Ithaca Co-Lab, Professor Harry Katz and Art Wheaton, director of labor studies, the conference and its 35 attendees aimed to develop a global understanding of the EV shift and its consequences for workers.

Ian Greer leading a panel discussion at the ILERA conference on the transition to electric vehicles.
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Student Project: Applying for Unemployment Insurance (Video)

This video examines the unemployment insurance application and appeals process in New York. Including interviews with legal professionals and a former claimant, the video informs viewers on the steps of the UI application process, best practices when applying for UI and what to expect during the application and appeals process.
Applying for Unemployment Insurance: A Guide from Cornell ILR School and LawNY
Student Project: Applying for Unemployment Insurance (Video)

Student Project: Examining Unemployment Insurance Overpayments in New York State (Video)

This student-led video examines unemployment insurance overpayments in New York State. Through conversations with past unemployment benefits claimants, this video shows how strict policing of fault and fraud have worsened the financial hardships facing unemployed workers and their families.
Screenshot from video on unemployment insurance overpayments in New York State
Student Project: Examining Unemployment Insurance Overpayments in New York State (Video)

Student Project: Examining Worker Misclassification in New York State’s Unemployment Insurance System (Video)

This student-led video examines worker misclassification in New York State’s unemployment insurance (UI) system. Employees treated by their employers as independent contractors, often in violation of the law, struggle to receive benefits, enabling their employers to avoid paying UI taxes.
Screenshot from video on worker misclassification in New York State
Student Project: Examining Worker Misclassification in New York State’s Unemployment Insurance System (Video)

Many in Tompkins County Do Not Earn a Living Wage: ILR Researchers

The 2025 living wage for a single adult living alone in Tompkins County is $24.82 per hour, but almost half of the county’s 48,894 wage earners earn less than that, according to ILR School researchers.
A calculator, cash and budget journal on a table.
Many in Tompkins County Do Not Earn a Living Wage: ILR Researchers

Student Project: TCAT Workers Prepare to Negotiate a New Contract

TCAT workers discuss the importance of their role in people’s lives. Amidst contract negotiations, they highlight staff shortages, overtime and burnout. They also mention wages and cost of living in Ithaca. Riley Xian and Jenna Lea, students in the Ithaca Co-Lab at the Cornell ILR School, produced this video.
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Student Project: TCAT Workers Prepare to Negotiate a New Contract

Minimum Wage Increase Yields Positives: Report

Increasing the Tompkins County minimum wage of $16.61 to a living wage would increase earnings for thousands of workers and reduce racial and gender disparities, according to a new Ithaca Co-Lab report.
Money in the back pocket of a pair of jeans
Minimum Wage Increase Yields Positives: Report

In the News

Media Mentions

Commentary: New York must get serious about fixing Unemployment Insurance

Times Union News
In this op-ed, Ian Greer argues that New York needs progressive taxation of employers: taxing all workers’ wages, reducing the role of experience rating, and reducing the Unemployment Insurance tax rate for the businesses whose rates are disproportionately high.
Commentary: New York must get serious about fixing Unemployment Insurance

Tesla’s ‘American-made’ cars won’t get hit as hard by the auto tariffs

CNN
“In the electric vehicle segment, tariffs are a boon to fiercely anti-union Tesla, which will benefit from the disarray of competitors (including the Big Three) who need time to rethink production strategies and retool factories. Any new automotive jobs will be overwhelmingly nonunion,” says Ian Greer.
Tesla’s ‘American-made’ cars won’t get hit as hard by the auto tariffs

The EV revolution is going in reverse at Volkswagen

Clean Technica
Ian Greer, research professor at ILR, says, “If VW closes three plants, the reason will not only be competitive difficulties but also the decision to pay out dividends rather than to invest in the existing productive tissue.”
The EV revolution is going in reverse at Volkswagen