Public Impact

For more than 300 days, Amazon workers talked with their peers to build relationships, trust and, ultimately, a union that many thought would never be possible, Amazon Labor Union leaders said at ILR during Union Days.

Please join Cornell University ILR Buffalo Co-Lab on June 6, 2023, from 10-12:30pm for an in-person discussion with featured speaker, Jennifer Abruzzo, General Counsel, NLRB alongside leaders in the Labor Movement with ties to Buffalo.

Ellen Stutzman ’04 is at the center of 11,500 striking screenwriters whose union is picketing Netflix, Amazon, Apple, Disney, Universal and Paramount.

The public is invited to ILR School “Talkin’ Union” events featuring speakers whose experiences reflect contemporary labor movement struggles and successes.

Union Days begin March 15 with "Unions on Campus," a presentation and panel discussion with members from different university worker organizations.

The ILR School database that documents U.S. work stoppages informs journalists, policymakers, activists, scholars and the public about labor activism and unrest.

Union leadership during a volatile labor-management period will be discussed by NFLPA President JC Tretter '13 and Professor Harry Katz in a Nov. 1 webinar.

As president of the National Football League Players Association, JC Tretter ’13 utilizes his ILR training to lift players’ voices.

Patrick Mehler ’23, a senior in the ILR School and an alderperson on the City of Ithaca’s Common Council, is a founding member and president of Cornell Votes.

Jaz Brisack, Simon Rosenblum-Larson, Jessica Garcia and Heather Goodall shared their insights about the organizing process and workers’ goals at a panel on campus.

The professorship in labor relations was endowed this year through a generous gift from David M. Cohen ’73 and Abby Joseph Cohen, A&S '73.

Johnnie Kallas started the ILR Labor Action Tracker, which tracks labor strikes across the country, and is now also studying their effectiveness.

ILR offers research-based perspectives and one-the-ground experiences that inform breaking workplace news.

The 2022 National HR in Hospitality Conference, organized by Cornell's ILR and Hotel schools, brought together over 300 industry professionals and addressed how the pandemic affected the hotel industry.

Martin Scheinman, Randi Weingarten, and Jessica Martinez analyze workplace health and safety issues.

Catherine Creighton, director of the Buffalo Co-Lab, says the law requires companies to give a union notice of a new benefit and the opportunity to bargain over it.

ILR alumna leading 1.7million-member American Federation of Teachers for eighth term.

Patricia Campos-Medina, executive director of the Worker Institute, says the debate around gun rights and gun legislation in America is difficult for labor leaders to maneuver.

Cathy Creighton, director of the ILR Buffalo Co-Lab, and Patricia Campos-Medina, executive director of ILR’s Worker Institute, have been putting their ILR education and experience to work in roles they now hold at the school.

“I’m of the school that says there is something happening, but no indication yet it is even going to amount to a sizable increase in the level of unionization,” says Harry Katz, director of the Scheinman Institute.

U.S. labor law doesn’t set a deadline, or require that a contract be reached at all. “The overall approach with the law is to encourage the parties to reach an agreement that they both can live with,” said Risa Lieberwitz, academic director of the Worker Institute.

John August and Lily Mackey explore how the doctors' union impacted working conditions at New York City Health and Hospitals system

“For a long time, there was a belief you couldn’t organize low-wage workers or part-time workers,” says Patricia Campos-Medina, director of the ILR Worker Institute. “Industry has changed. Our economy has changed.”

According to Harry Katz, Director of the Scheinman Institute, media relations will be a lever that the ALU can and should pull, as they need to “supplement strike leverage with public relations."

Join us on Friday, April 29th, 2022 at 2:30 p.m. for a Union Days event, "From Retail to Tech to Universities: Unionizing for Equity in all Workplaces." In-person on our Ithaca campus and virtually.

Scheinman Director Harry Katz discusses the impact of Amazon and Starbucks unionization efforts.

John August explains how empowering workers leads to better healthcare for patients.

Institute Director Harry Katz wrote an article for Fortune.com on how labor and management can achieve win-win outcomes.

“It’s a union avoidance technique,” Buffalo Co-Lab director Cathy Creighton said, referring to employers discussing benefits that won’t automatically extend to unionized workers.

"Since the 1980s, management's perspective was that unions are the devil," said Harry Katz, professor of collective bargaining and director of the Scheinman Institute. 

“I think it’s going to lead to more [organizing] but I don’t think it’s yet an indication of a massive turnaround,” says Harry Katz, professor in the ILR School.

"The Moment for a Movement: Starbucks and the Slow Drip of Starting a Union" is a Union Days event.

ILR’s teaching and outreach is based on the school’s research, which scholars, students, journalists and the public rely on to inform their work.

As labor unrest continues to surge, the ILR Labor Action Tracker founded in 2021 continues to provide nationwide information on strikes and other worker actions.

Join us on May 2nd at 11 AM EST for an in-person and virtual book launch of The Future We Need: Organizing for a Better Democracy in the Twenty-First Century, written by Erica Smiley and Sarita Gupta that will be livestreamed.

Learn the ins and outs of how to unionize a workplace and what legal methods Starbucks has used to delay the votes. In-person event, free and open to the public.

In response to Disney’s handling of Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill, workers are threatening a full-day walkout. Patricia Campos-Medina says, “people felt surprised that they [Disney] wanted to stay quiet on this issue,” because Disney has long been influential in Florida politics and social issues.

ILR alumnus continues to make his mark as leader of the National Football League Players Association.

“‘Talking to the Girls’ invites engagement with a tragedy and its lasting legacy,” said Kheel Center Director Wesley Chenault, who will moderate the discussion.

The Labor and Employment Relations Association will honor Professor Sarosh Kuruvilla June 3 for extraordinary contributions to the industrial relations field.

A High Road Fellowship and other experiences have helped Kevin Diaz '24 thrive at Cornell.

Director of Partner and Healthcare Programs John August discusses the nursing shortage crisis in America.

Improving working conditions in the dangerous and largely unregulated commercial fishing industry is the focus of the project.

“Achieving Greater Worker Voice, Equity, and Mobility: A Multi-Industry Study of Organizing Efforts and Their Outcomes,” will be led by Labor Education Research Director Kate Bronfenbrenner and MIT Professor Thomas A. Kochan.

Join the Cornell University ILR Buffalo Co-Lab for a timely, interactive discussion on unionization in today's workplaces.

Cathy Creighton, director of Buffalo Co-Lab, says unions can actually help a company because workers who are better paid are more stable and less likely to leave.