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Welcome to 2024-2025 Cohort of the Union Labor Institute (ULI)

The Worker Institute Launches the 2024-2025 Cohort of the New York State-AFLCIO/Cornell University’s Union Labor Institute (ULI)
Welcome to 2024-2025 Cohort of the Union Labor Institute (ULI)

Remembering the Triangle Fire

The Kheel Center, ILRies and Cornellians carry on the collective action legacy that grew from the Triangle Factory Fire disaster.
Cornell students at the Triangle Fire memorial
Remembering the Triangle Fire

SDA Delegates visit Cornell ILR

On Tuesday, September 5, Cornell ILR hosted a delegation of five Australian labor leaders from the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees’ Association (SDA) at our NYC conference center. SDA is Australia’s largest private sector union, representing 210,00 workers in retail, warehousing, fast food and other related industries.
delegation post
SDA Delegates visit Cornell ILR

Labor Day 2023: ILR’s Worker Institute Reflects and Recommits

We at the Worker Institute are proud of our continued work to support union and worker justice leaders with research, training, and education. We seek to equip change-makers with the skills to challenge the increasing levels of income inequality and worker precarity.
Labor Day 2023 Image
Labor Day 2023: ILR’s Worker Institute Reflects and Recommits

Amazon Labor Organizers Encourage Solidarity

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.
Chris Small speaks at 2013 Union Days
Amazon Labor Organizers Encourage Solidarity

Strong Support Among New Yorkers for Improving Home Care Workers’ Pay

In New York and around the country, home care workers deliver critical services to older adults and people with disabilities, providing support with activities of daily living and medically oriented care under the direction of nurses and other medical professionals.
home care attendant
Strong Support Among New Yorkers for Improving Home Care Workers’ Pay

Strikes up 52% in 2022: Labor Action Tracker

The ILR School database that documents U.S. work stoppages informs journalists, policymakers, activists, scholars and the public about labor activism and unrest.
Labor action tracker map
Strikes up 52% in 2022: Labor Action Tracker

Climate Jobs Institute to Launch in New York City

Cornell Chronicle
The ILR School Climate Jobs Institute, the first U.S. academic institution focused on conducting research and developing policy for governments across the nation to support clean energy targets, is launching Jan. 25 in New York City.
Workers install solar panels
Climate Jobs Institute to Launch in New York City

Equity at Work Helping Expand Initiatives

The Worker Institute Equity at Work initiative supports domestic workers and their employers in improving workplace standards.
Nanny training graduation ceremony
Equity at Work Helping Expand Initiatives

When the pendulum of justice moves backward, your generation must resist it | A 2022 commencement essay

NJ - Star Ledger
In an open letter to the Class of 2022, Patricia Campos-Medina, executive director of the Worker Institute, says "You must be comfortable with the tension that exists between going along to get along or challenging the status quo."
When the pendulum of justice moves backward, your generation must resist it | A 2022 commencement essay

2022 Migrations Awards Include Grant for Worker Institute Faculty on Central American Workers with Temporary Protective Status

The 2022 Migrations Awards include a Justice Futures Team Research Grant awarded to Patricia Campos-Medina and more for their project, “Displaced and Uprooted: Stories of Belonging, Central American TPS Workers' Defiant Struggle for their Right to Stay Home in the U.S.”
Patricia Campos Medina with TPS Worker
2022 Migrations Awards Include Grant for Worker Institute Faculty on Central American Workers with Temporary Protective Status

Is this the year for gig workers in Albany

City & State
Worker Justice Project Event
Is this the year for gig workers in Albany

A Message from Worker Institute Leadership for International Workers' Day

A message from Worker Institute leadership, Patricia Campos Medina, Executive Director, The Worker Institute and Risa Lieberwitz, Academic Director, The Worker Institute for International Workers' Day, 2022.
Nail Salon Workers and Starbucks Organizing
A Message from Worker Institute Leadership for International Workers' Day

Podcast: Organized Labor Sees Promise in Transition to Clean Energy

Lara Skinner, Director of Labor Leading on Climate Initiative Cornell University ILR School spoke with The Kleinman Center for Energy Policy the University of Pennsylvania on a podcast: "Organized Labor Sees Promise in Transition to Clean Energy.
Image of Climate Jobs Banner
Podcast: Organized Labor Sees Promise in Transition to Clean Energy

New Report Outlines Equitable Climate Action Plan for Rhode Island

Climate Jobs Rhode Island and Cornell University recently released a report outlining a climate jobs action plan to put Rhode Island on the path to meeting the state’s climate targets and building an equitable renewable energy economy.
The report features policy recommendations to transition Rhode Island to renewable energy with strong labor and equity standards. (istock)
New Report Outlines Equitable Climate Action Plan for Rhode Island

Labor and environmental coalition calls for R.I. to transition to a clean energy economy

Boston Globe
A report by Cornell University researchers details crises involving climate change, the pandemic, and inequality, recommends major public projects involving wind energy, schools, and electrical grid
Wind energy
Labor and environmental coalition calls for R.I. to transition to a clean energy economy

New York's food delivery bicyclists and drivers demand more workplace rights

CBS News
This piece mentions a survey out of the ILR School and the advocacy group Los Deliveristas Unidos finding that two-thirds of the surveyed delivery drivers work at least six days a week and average just over $12 per hour, including tips.
Delivery driver in the snow
New York's food delivery bicyclists and drivers demand more workplace rights

The Market Starts Speaking Out on a Tech Worker Union Effort at The New York Times

"Unions play an institutional role in influencing decisions in capitalist systems as shareholders," said Patricia Campos-Medina, executive director for the Worker Institute at the Cornell University School of International Labor Relations.
Eduardo Munoz Alvarez | VIEW press | Corbis | Getty Images
The Market Starts Speaking Out on a Tech Worker Union Effort at The New York Times

Activision Blizzard employees at Raven Software ask management to recognize new union

The Washington Post
“Given the negative publicity that Activision Blizzard has received regarding its conduct toward employees, Microsoft should pay particular attention to the importance of respecting employees’ rights to organize," said Prof. Risa Lieberwitz , Academic Director or the Worker Institute.
(Washington Post illustration; iStock)
Activision Blizzard employees at Raven Software ask management to recognize new union

Video game giant Activision Blizzard faces worker walkout

NBC News
Video game giant Activision Blizzard faces worker walkout. "This is a really important moment for everyone," says Risa Lieberwitz, Academic Director, The Worker Institute.
Video Game Workers Walk Out
Video game giant Activision Blizzard faces worker walkout

Meet Our New Team Members

The Worker Institute is excited to introduce to you our four new team members. They will help fill critical needs we have as well as bring a wealth of vital experience and new energy and vision to the Worker Institute.
WI New Team Members
Meet Our New Team Members

Happy New Year from the Labor Leadership Program’s Team!

The Labor Leadership Program’s Team at the Worker Institute at Cornell ILR wishes everyone a happy and healthy 2022.
Class od 2021 ULI
Happy New Year from the Labor Leadership Program’s Team!

Supreme Court Blocks Biden’s COVID-19 Vaccine or Test Rule, Allows Healthcare Requirement

Vaccine rules issues by New York State and New York City unlikely to be affected by Supreme Court decision blocking vaccine-or- testing rule for large businesses, says Prof. Risa Lieberwitz, Academic Director, The Worker Institute.
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
Supreme Court Blocks Biden’s COVID-19 Vaccine or Test Rule, Allows Healthcare Requirement

New Year Message from Risa L. Lieberwitz, Academic Director, The Worker Institute

Risa L. Lieberwitz, the new Academic Director for the Worker Institute at Cornell ILR, wishes everyone a happy and healthy 2022.
Risa Lieberwitz Professor of Labor and Employment Law Chair, Department of Labor Relations, Law, & History
New Year Message from Risa L. Lieberwitz, Academic Director, The Worker Institute

Message from Patricia Campos-Medina, Executive Director, The Worker Institute

The Worker Institute's Executive Director, Patricia Campos-Medina, wishes everyone a happy and healthy 2022.
ULI Class of 2022
Message from Patricia Campos-Medina, Executive Director, The Worker Institute

WORK ‘All work produces value’: What experts say Eric Adams gets wrong about ‘low skill’ workers

CNBC
“All work is work and all work is dignified,” says Patricia Campos-Medina, executive director of The Worker Institute at Cornell University. “All work produces value for our economy.”
People walk outside Dunkin’ Donuts in New York City.Noam Galai | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images
WORK ‘All work produces value’: What experts say Eric Adams gets wrong about ‘low skill’ workers

Amazon Reaches Federal Settlement Allowing Workers More Leeway to Organize

Wall Street Journal
Amazon's NLRB settlement allowing workers more leeway to organize “can give an enormous boost to organizing at Amazon and at other large employers in the United States,” says Risa Lieberwitz of ILR's Worker Institute.
Staten Island Amazon workers protested in New York’s Times Square Wednesday as they demand union rights. PHOTO: AHMED GABER/REUTERS
Amazon Reaches Federal Settlement Allowing Workers More Leeway to Organize

The Pandemic Struck Orchestras With Underlying Conditions Hard

The New York Times
“Workers across the spectrum are demanding more and feel like they have more power,” said Patricia Campos-Medina, a longtime labor activist who serves as executive director of Cornell University’s Worker Institute.
The Springfield Symphony Orchestra in 2019, before the pandemic. performing a Tchaikovsky’s piano concerto with Viktor Valkov, the guest soloist, and Kevin Rhodes conducting.Credit...Chad Anderson
The Pandemic Struck Orchestras With Underlying Conditions Hard

RED STRIKETOBER

Dr. Patricia Campos-Medina, the Executive Director of the Worker Institute at the Cornell School of Industrial Labor Relations, says one of the biggest factors is the global pandemic. Campos-Medina points out that many workers had to deal with enhanced risks in the workplace.
Red blob with text "We Demand to Be Heard"
RED STRIKETOBER

The Great Resignation: Why four million US workers a month are leaving their jobs

El Pais
Patricia Campos-Medina, Executive Director of The Worker Institute at Cornell University, lists some of the factors contributing to this talent drain, among them dissatisfaction. “We have been through times of personal and financial anxiety."
Nurses in San Francisco protesting for better work conditions on November 10. JUSTIN SULLIVAN (AFP)
The Great Resignation: Why four million US workers a month are leaving their jobs