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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.

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 at Cornell 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.

WI Faculty Awarded Einhorn Center Fellowship to Publish Research on Domestic Workers

Zoë West, senior researcher for worker rights and equity at Cornell ILR’s The Worker Institute (WI), has been selected as one of the Engaged Faculty Fellows for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Zoe West
WI Faculty Awarded Einhorn Center Fellowship to Publish Research on Domestic Workers

State Impact Day Highlights Outreach Research

The day-long Sept. 27 meeting in King-Shaw Hall at ILR drew state legislative staffers and representatives of the governor’s office and the state Department of Labor. It included presentations from ILR Outreach faculty based in New York City, Ithaca and Buffalo.
NY State Capital building
State Impact Day Highlights Outreach Research

“Stories of Belonging” Highlights Journeys of Central Americans

A traveling exhibit highlighting the intersections of racism, dispossession and migration grew out of LR Worker Institute Executive Director Patricia Campos-Medina’s doctoral thesis.
Jose Urias is featured in "Stories of Belonging"
“Stories of Belonging” Highlights Journeys of Central Americans

Lois Gray Innovation Initiative 

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.

 

Lois Gray, ILR School faculty member
Learn more about the Initiative