Celebrating the 2025–2026 Union Leadership Institute Graduating Class

There was plenty to celebrate as the 2025–2026 class of the Union Leadership Institute (ULI) gathered for graduation on June 11, 2026. This day marked, the completion of a year of learning, reflection, relationship-building, and leadership development.

One of the largest ULI graduating classes in recent memory, this year’s cohort reflected the breadth and strength of New York State’s labor movement. Leaders from across sectors, industries, unions, worker organizations, and communities came together as one class. They brought different experiences and perspectives while sharing a common commitment to building a stronger movement for working people.

The graduation ceremony offered an opportunity to recognize the accomplishments of the class and reflect on the importance of developing the next generation of labor leaders. Mark Carter of the Peekskill Firefighters Union delivered the graduation address, sharing reflections on leadership, solidarity, and the responsibility of building a stronger labor movement.

The ceremony also featured remarks from Mike Hellstrom of LIUNA, who spoke to the importance of leadership and collective action within the labor movement, and Dean Diane Burton of Cornell ILR, who celebrated the graduates and their commitment to advancing the interests of working people.

Throughout the ULI program, participants challenged themselves and one another to think differently about leadership, power, organizing, and the future of the labor movement. They explored what it means to lead across differences, build effective organizations, develop strong coalitions, and create the conditions for workers to exercise greater power.

But graduation was about more than completing a program. It was a moment to recognize the relationships participants built along the way.

ULI creates a unique space within New York’s labor movement: a place where leaders from different unions, sectors, and organizations can learn from one another, share experiences, and build relationships that extend beyond their own workplaces and organizations. The 2025–2026 class embodied that spirit, bringing together a truly cross-sector and cross-labor movement cohort from across New York State.

At a time when workers across New York are organizing for better wages, stronger protections, greater dignity, and a greater voice at work, building connections across the labor movement is more important than ever. Graduation is both an ending and a beginning. The 2025–2026 ULI graduates now return to their unions, organizations, and communities with new tools, new relationships, and a deeper understanding of their own leadership and the collective power of the movement.

We celebrate this class not only for what they accomplished over the past year, but for what they will carry forward.