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Tompkins County Minimum Wage Study Final Report

Ithaca Co-Lab Director Ian Greer has worked with local stakeholders since 2018 to explore ways to increase the wage floor in Tompkins County. In spring 2026, the Ithaca Co-Lab organized eight public convenings, six focus groups and canvassed opinions online and in the community about the possibility of a countywide minimum wage.
The final report was presented to the community and to the legislature in fall 2026.

Staff serving takeaway order for driver in delivery window
Read the Report

ILR Hosts Conference on Transition to EVs

Outreach

The ILR School hosted a two-day 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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New Research Project: Unemployed Workers in Transition

The Ithaca Co-Lab launches a research project on workers made unemployed during the current pandemic aimed to find out how supports such as unemployment insurance, social services, retraining programs, mutual aid, churches and charities shape workers' transitions from work to unemployment and back again.
man in mask in quarantine at home
New Research Project: Unemployed Workers in Transition

October Transatlantic Social Dialogue Webinar Series

The Transatlantic Social Dialogue (TSD) continues this fall with another series of webinars focusing on the impact of COVID-19 on organized labor issues. Registration will open on October 1st.
COVID 19 cell image
October Transatlantic Social Dialogue Webinar Series

The Fight Against Unemployment: Advocacy and Policy

Cornell students are learning all about unemployment with ILR professor Ian Greer in his course titled The Fight Against Unemployment: Advocacy and Policy being offered this fall semester at Cornell University.
Job search ad in newspaper
The Fight Against Unemployment: Advocacy and Policy

Worker Power, Racial Justice and Mutual Aid Webinar

The Worker Power, Racial Justice and Mutual Aid Webinar brought together numerous local organizers in Tompkins County with national organizers to discuss racial justice and mutual aid during the pandemic held Tuesday, July 28, 2020.
Worker Power & Racial Justice: A panel on the intersection of the labor movement, black lives matter, and mutual aid
Worker Power, Racial Justice and Mutual Aid Webinar

International Academic Labor Teach-in

Students and academics in Ithaca virtually joined strikers in Europe to discuss shared injustices and the global struggle and to record statements of solidarity on Thursday, March 5, 2020, international day of mobilization for academic workers.
Protester hands
International Academic Labor Teach-in

In the News

Media Mentions

Could Tompkins County set its own higher minimum wage?

The Ithaca Voice
In this audio interview, ILR Research Professor Ian Greer discusses findings from the Tompkins County minimum wage study that he led and provides a deeper understanding of the issues examined in the study.
Could Tompkins County set its own higher minimum wage?

Tompkins County reviewing study on minimum wage

607 News Now
“There is a big problem with wages and the cost of living being out of sync; cost of living is going up much more rapidly than wages are,” says Ian Greer, ILR Ithaca Co-Lab director, in this audio interview about a minimum-wage study he co-authored for Tompkins County.
Tompkins County reviewing study on minimum wage

County legislators poised to revisit local minimum wage debate

The Ithaca Voice
Ian Greer, director of ILR’s Ithaca Co-Lab, co-authored a study on Tompkins County’s minimum wage.
County legislators poised to revisit local minimum wage debate