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About the Institute

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 coursesresearch fellowshipsgraduate programs and other professional development opportunities.

 

Students on international experience trip
Learn more about our work with students.

In the News

Media Mentions

One in Five in NYS Face Workplace Sexual Harassment

Cornell Chronicle
More than a third of cisgender women and half of respondents who identify as transgender or other gender identities reported experiencing sexual harassment in the workplace, according to a new ILR School Worker Institute report.
One in Five in NYS Face Workplace Sexual Harassment

ILR’s Worker Institute Helps Guide a Newly Energized Labor Movement

Cornellians
Led by Patricia Campos-Medina ’96, MPA ’97, it conducts research and outreach on today’s rapidly changing employment landscape
ILR’s Worker Institute Helps Guide a Newly Energized Labor Movement

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

NYC Food Delivery Workers Face a ‘Harrowing World’

Cornell Chronicle
New York City’s app-based delivery workers regularly face nonpayment or underpayment, unsanitary or unsafe working conditions and the risk of violence, according to a new ILR School report.
NYC Food Delivery Workers Face a ‘Harrowing World’

Why restaurant workers are demanding better wages and working conditions

CHRON News
Patricia Campos-Medina, executive director of the Worker Institute at Cornell University’s ILR School, said workers are feeling more empowered, both in the workplace and in the political arena.
Why restaurant workers are demanding better wages and working conditions

What Biden's worker organizing task force could mean for non-union employers

HR Dive
According to Patricia Campos-Medina, executive director of The Worker Institute, President Biden’s worker organizing task force, on a broad level, serves as a recognition of issues raised by workers and their advocates, ranging from income inequality to the declining influence of labor unions.
What Biden's worker organizing task force could mean for non-union employers

Welcome to the 2026–2027 Cohort of the Union Leadership Institute (ULI)

On July 14, Labor Leadership Initiatives at ILR welcomed the 2026–2027 New York State AFL-CIO/Cornell University Union Leadership Institute (ULI) cohort.
ULI Class of 2026-2027
Welcome to the 2026–2027 Cohort of the Union Leadership Institute (ULI)

TPS We Are Home Report

The report entitled We Are Home; TPS Workers Belong Here, written by Patricia Campos-Medina and Natalia Navas, examines the experiences of Central American TPS workers in New York state and finds these TPS holders overwhelmingly view New York and the United States as their home.
TPS Report Launch
TPS We Are Home Report

Collective Representation as a Response to Worker Precarity in the Green Jobs Economy

Collective Representation as a Response to Worker Precarity in the Green Jobs Economy, hosted by ILR School’s Worker Institute in partnership with the Climate Jobs Institute, highlighted the need for community-driven approaches in developing high-quality green energy jobs and infrastructure.
Two technicians wearing hardhats, talking on solar rooftop
Collective Representation as a Response to Worker Precarity in the Green Jobs Economy

Lois Gray Innovation 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.

Explore the initiative