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Worker Precarity in Journalism, Academia and Computer Programming

Collective Representation as a Response to Worker Precarity

What do part-time or underemployed workers without health benefits, pensions or job security who work split shifts at a number of different locations each week have in common? They all hold a university degree, often with at least one master’s degree and/or a doctorate, but find themselves in precarious, insecure work.

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Worker Precarity in Journalism, Academia and Computer Programming
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About the Institute

About us

The Worker Institute at Cornell engages in research and education on contemporary labor issues, to generate innovative thinking and solutions to problems related to work, economy and society. The institute brings together researchers, educators and students with practitioners in labor, business and policymaking to confront growing economic and social inequalities, in the interests of working people and their families. A core value of the Worker Institute is that collective representation and workers’ rights are vital to a fair economy, robust democracy and just society. Learn more about all of our offerings.

Worker Institute

Core Offerings

The Worker Institute serves as a hub for policy research, publication, and training for policymakers, entrepreneurs, and activists engaged in the public debate to reduce economic inequality.

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Student Engagement

Student Engagement

The Worker Institute is committed to engaging Cornell ILR undergraduate and graduate students through our courses, research fellowships, graduate programs and other professional development opportunities.

 

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Learn more about our work with students.

In the News

Media Mentions

Gary LaBarbera, president of the NY Building and Construction Trades Council, speaks on the suicide 'epidemic'

The Chief
Gary LaBarbera says the Building and Construction Trades Council was “especially lucky” to have worked with Arianna Schindle and Jeff Grabelski, both from ILR’s Worker Institute, when developing a new peer support network aimed at improving construction workers’ mental health.
Gary LaBarbera, president of the NY Building and Construction Trades Council, speaks on the suicide 'epidemic'

New York construction council launches peer support network to combat worker suicide

New York Construction Report
ILR’s Worker Institute is mentioned as a partner in the development and delivery of the curriculum for the new Building Trades Peer Support Network, which aims to train approximately 1,000 workers in the NYC construction industry as peer supporters, in order to improve mental health and reduce suicide rates.
New York construction council launches peer support network to combat worker suicide

‘It’s not weak to speak’: NYC construction unions launch mental health initiative

Construction Dive
ILR’s Worker Institute, which is a partner in the new Building Trades Peer Support Network, contributed to the network’s approach by confirming that peer-to-peer interventions work better for improving construction worker mental health than top-down interventions.
‘It’s not weak to speak’: NYC construction unions launch mental health initiative

Building & Construction Trades Council of Greater New York Launches Peer Support Network to Prevent Suicide

LaborPress
ILR’s Worker Institute is mentioned as a partner in the new Building Trades Peer Support Network, which aims to improve construction workers’ mental health by training approximately 1,000 workers throughout the trades and across job sites in New York City as peer supporters.
Building & Construction Trades Council of Greater New York Launches Peer Support Network to Prevent Suicide

ILR, Unions Offer NYC Construction Workers Innovative Emotional First Aid

Cornell Chronicle
The ILR School’s Worker Institute and unions have launched an innovative peer support initiative to destigmatize mental health and reduce suicide in New York City’s construction industry.
ILR, Unions Offer NYC Construction Workers Innovative Emotional First Aid

Trades Council Launches Peer Network To Curb Construction Suicide Rates

Harlem World
“This is precisely the kind of initiative that Cornell ILR supports as we pursue our public service mission,” said Patrica Campos-Medina, executive director of ILR’s Worker Institute, about the institute’s contribution to the Building Trades Peer Support Network curriculum, which aims to improve NYC construction workers’ mental health.
Trades Council Launches Peer Network To Curb Construction Suicide Rates

Blog: Latest News and Events

Read more stories from the Worker Institute Blog

Collective Representation as a Response to Worker Precarity in Logistics, Warehousing and Supply Chains

The second webinar in the Cornell ILR Worker Institute's three-part series on collective representation and worker precarity examined how e-commerce, automation, and changing supply chains contribute to worker insecurity in warehousing and logistics, and how collective organizing, legislation, and community solidarity can address these challenges.
overhead shot of warehouse worker pushing boxes with surrounding shelves of packages
Collective Representation as a Response to Worker Precarity in Logistics, Warehousing and Supply Chains

Cornell’s Last Mile Delivery Study Finds Majority of Non-Union Delivery Drivers Would Unionize

Preliminary data from Cornell’s Last Mile Delivery study finds that a majority of its non-unionized package delivery driver respondents think that their interests would be better represented by a union and would support unionization at their employers.
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Cornell’s Last Mile Delivery Study Finds Majority of Non-Union Delivery Drivers Would Unionize

The Incursion of Private Equity into New York State Home Care

Findings from a two-year research project that explores private equity’s incursion into home care in New York State, its relationship to structural racism and how agency structure shapes working conditions, worker voice and what this means for quality of care.
RWJF0930
The Incursion of Private Equity into New York State Home Care

Lois Gray Innovation Initiative 

Explore the Initiative
Lois Gray, ILR School faculty member

The Lois Gray Innovation Initiative was founded by labor pioneer Lois Gray to generate innovative thinking and solutions to problems related to work, economy, and society. The Lois Gray Innovation Fund provide financial incentives for collaboration between resident and extension faculty in relation to priority programs of The Worker Institute. It ensures faculty, researchers and students have the opportunity to fulfill the institute’s mission of advancing worker rights and collective representation.