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Richard W. Hurd

People/Emeriti faculty
Associate Director of CIHLER
Global Labor and Work
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Contact

140 Garden Ave
340 ILR Research Building

Ithaca, NY 14853
United States

Overview

Richard W. Hurd is Professor of Labor Studies (retired) and Associate Director of the Cornell Center for Innovative Hospitality Labor and Employment Relations. A leading specialist on trade union administration and strategy, on union representation in the hospitality sector, and on the unionization of professional workers, he has been quoted widely in the national and international print and broadcast media on various labor issues.

He is co-editor of the International Handbook on Labour Unions: Responses to Neoliberalism (Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd. 2011), Rekindling the Movement (Cornell University ILR Press, 2001), Organizing to Win (Cornell University ILR Press, 1998) and Restoring the Promise of American Labor Law (ILR Press, 1994). He has published dozens of papers in books and professional journals, including "Public Sector Unions Under Siege" [with Tamara Lee, Labor Studies Journal 2014], "Moving Beyond the Critical Synthesis: Does the Law Preclude a Future for US Unions?" [Labor History, 2013], "First Contract Arbitration and the Employee Free Choice Act: Multi-jurisdictional Evidence from Canada" [with Sara Slinn, Advances in Industrial and Labor Relations 2011], and "Obama and the US Labor Movement" [Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research 2009].

His articles on union strategy have been published in Britain, Germany, Switzerland, India, South Africa, Korea, Australia, Belgium, Canada and the U.S. Professor Hurd works closely with labor organizations and professional associations, offering technical assistance on strategic issues including organizational change, internal and external organizing, and leadership development. His clients have included the Canadian Labour Congress, AFL-CIO Office of the President, United Food and Commercial Workers, American Federation of Teachers, Service Employees International Union, the National Association for the Education of Young Children, and the American Guild of Musical Artists

Hurd earned his Ph.D. in Economics from Vanderbilt University, and is a former Brookings Institution Economic Policy Fellow.

Areas of Expertise

Collective Bargaining
Contract negotiations
Diversity and Inclusion
Labor and politics
Labor law
Labor relations
Public Sector
Union leadership
Unions
Wage systems, gainsharing, and incentives

Other expertise

Contemporary Union Movement, Union Political Action, Organizational Change in Unions and Labor Rights

Publications

Journal Articles

  • . . Neutrality Agreements: Innovative, Controversial and Labor's Hope for the Future. New Labor Forum, 17(1), 34-46.
  • . . The Origins and Effectiveness of Neutrality Agreements. Perspectives on Work, 7.
  • . . U.S. Labor 2006: Strategic Developments Across the Divide. Journal of Labor Research, XXVIII(2), 313-325.
  • . . Dueling Federations: U.S. Labor in 2006. Fokus Amerika, 6.
  • . . Reflections on PATCO’s Legacy: Labor’s Challenges Persist. Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal, 18(3), 207-214.
  • . . Competing Federations, Organizing, and the Future of the U.S. Labor Movement. The Reappraisal of Labor Movements, 125-128.
  • . . Beyond Labor’s Brawl: Strategic Conundrums Await. Social Policy, 35(4), 8-12.
  • . . The Failure of Organizing, the New Unity Partnership and the Future of the Labor Movement. WorkingUSA, 8(1), 5-25.
  • , & . . Public Sector Unions: Will they Thrive or Struggle to Survive?. Journal of Labor Research, XXV(2), 211-222.
  • , , & . . Structural Change as a Source of Union Revitalization. WSI-Mitteilungen.
  • . . In Defense of Public Service: Union Strategy in Transition. WorkingUSA.
  • , , & . . Reviving the American Labor Movement: Institutions and Mobilization. European Journal of Industrial Relations, 9(1).
  • . . Contesting the Dinosaur Image: The U.S. Labor Movement’s Search for a Future. Society in Transition, 33(2).
  • . . Thirst for Knowledge: Associations, Information and Professional Development. New Economy Information Service E Bulletin, 1(2).
  • , & . . Is Organizing Enough? Race, Gender and Union Culture. New Labor Forum.
  • . . Professional Employees and Union Democracy: From Control to Chaos. Journal of Labor Research, XXI(2), 103-115.
  • , & . . Government Oversight, Union Democracy and Labor Racketeering. Journal of Labor Research, XX(3).
  • , & . . A Preliminary Report on Non-faculty Bargaining at Colleges and Universities - 1993. Newsletter, 20(4).
  • , & . . Strategic Diversity in Labor PAC Contribution Patterns. The Social Science Journal, 29.
  • . . Progressive Union Organizing: The SEIU Justice for Janitors Campaign. Review of Radical Political Economics, 21(3).
  • . . Learning from Clerical Unions: Two Cases of Organizing Success. Labor Studies Journal, XIV.
  • . . Big Labor Regains Its Muscle: Social Responsibility Leads to Greater Political Clout. Business and Society Review, 68.
  • , & . . Organizing Clerical Workers: Determinants of Success. Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 41(3), 360-373.
  • , & . . The Unionization of Clerical Workers at Large U.S. Universities and Colleges. Newsletter.
  • , & . . The Rise and Demise of PATCO Reconstructed. Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 40(1), 115-122.
  • . . Bottom-Up Organizing: HERE in New Haven and Boston. Labor Research Review, 8.
  • , & . . You Can Fight City Hall - the Dover, N.H., IAFF Defeat of Privatized Fire Protection. Labor Studies Journal, X.
  • . . How PATCO Was Led Into a Trap. The Nation.
  • , & . . Gearing CETA to Private Sector Needs - the New Hampshire Balance of State Employer Survey. The New England Journal of Employment and Training.
  • , & . . Welfare Reform: The View From New Hampshire and Massachusetts. The New England Journal of Business and Economics, IV.
  • . . The New Hampshire Public Employee Relations Act. The New Hampshire Review.
  • . . New Deal Labor Policy and the Containment of Radical Union Activity. Review of Radical Political Economics, VIII.
  • , & . . Manpower Training and Government Job Creation under CETA: The Experience in Maine and New Hampshire. The New England Journal of Business and Economics, II.
  • . . Organizing the Working Poor: The California Grape Strike Experience. Review of Radical Political Economics, VI.
  • . . Equilibrium Vacancies in a Labor Market Dominated by Non-profit Firms: The 'Shortage' of Nurses. Review of Economics and Statistics, 55(2), 234-240.
  • . . Estimating the Cost of the City Worker's Family Budget: A Multiple Regression Approach. Review of Regional Studies, III.

Research Reports

  • , & . . Unions, Associations and Twenty-First Century Professionals.
  • , , , , & . . An Evaluation of the Industrial Division of the IBEW: Prospects for Renewal.

Book Chapters

  • , & . . Unionization of Professional and Technical Workers: The Labor Market and Institutional Transformation. In Emerging Labor Market Institutions for the 21st Century. (pp. 179-206). University of Chicago Press for the National Bureau of Economic Research.
  • , , & . . Can Structural Change be a Source of Union Revitalization?. In Varieties of Unionism: Strategies for Union Revitalization in a Globalizing Economy. Oxford University Press.
  • . . The Rise and Fall of the Organizing Model in the U.S.. In Trade Unions and Democracy: Strategies and Perspectives. Manchester University Press.
  • , , & . . Union Revitalization: Concepts and Theory. In Varieties of Unionism: Strategies for Union Revitalization in a Globalizing Economy. Oxford University Press.
  • . . Professionalism, Education and Union Transformation. In Labor’s Role in Workforce Development. New Economy Information Service.
  • , & . . Building Social Movement Unionism: the Transformation of the American Labor Movement. In Rekindling the Movement: Labor’s Quest for Relevance in the 21st Century. Cornell University Press.
  • , & . . Overcoming Obstacles to Transformation: Challenges on the Way to a New Unionism. In Rekindling the Movement: Labor’s Quest for Relevance in the 21st Century. Cornell University Press.
  • , , & . . Revival of the American Labor Movement: Issues, Problems, Prospects. In Rekindling the Movement: Labor’s Quest for Relevance in the 21st Century. Cornell University Press.
  • , & . . Political Will, Local Union Transformation and the Organizing Imperative. In Which Direction for Organized Labor. Wayne State University Press.
  • , & . . Beyond the Organizing Model: the Transformation Process in Local Unions. In Organizing to Win.
  • , & . . Fear, Conflict and Union Organizing. In Organizing to Win.
  • , , , , & . . The Context for Organizing Research. In Organizing to Win. Cornell University Press.
  • , & . . Patterned Responses to Organizing - Case Studies of the Union Busting Convention. In Restoring the Promise of American Labor Law. ILR Press.
  • , , , & . . The Context for the Reform of Labor Law. In Restoring the Promise of American Labor Law. Cornell University Press.
  • . . Organizing and Representing Clerical Workers: The Harvard Model. In Women and Unions: Forging a Partnership. ILR Press.
  • . . The Unionization of Clerical, Technical, and Professional Employees in Higher Education - Threat or Opportunity for Management?. In Managing the Industrial Labor Relations Process in Higher Education. College and University Personnel Association.
  • . . Barriers to Union Organizing. In Examining a Fundamental Change in Society that Retards Progress in our Nation - The Decline of Labor Union Membership.
  • . . Organizing Clerical Workers. In Meeting the Challenges of Change. Department for Professional Employees, AFL-CIO.
  • . . The Unionization of Clerical Workers in Colleges and Universities: a Status Report. In Power Relationships on the Unionized Campus. National Center for the Study of Collective Bargaining in Higher Education.
  • . . A Retrospective on the PATCO Strategy. In The Air Controllers Controversy: Lessons from the PATCO Strike. Human Sciences Press.
  • . . Scientific Management, Human Relations and The Class Struggle: The Evolution of the Labor Process in the United States. In Toward the Construction of a New Economic Order. Praeger Publishing.
  • . . The Myth of the Unemployment - Inflation Trade-Off. In The Federal Budget and Social Reconstruction. Transaction Books.
  • . . Unemployment and the Federal Budget. In The Problem of the Federal Budget. Institute for Policy Studies.
  • , , & . . Economic Discrimination Against Women. In Essential Principles and Cases for Second Semester of Elementary Economics. Vanderbilt University.

Book Reviews

  • . . Review of 'The Twilight of the Old Unionism' by Leo Troy.
  • . . Review of 'We Can’t Eat Prestige: The Women Who Organized Harvard' by John Hoerr.

Conference Proceedings

  • , & . . Structural Change and Union Transformation.
  • , & . . Charting Their Own Future: Independent Organizing by Professional Workers.
  • . . Union Free Bargaining Strategies and First Contract Failures.
  • , & . . Reinventing an Organizing Union: Strategies for Change.
  • , & . . Strategic Diversity in Union Political Action: Implications for the 1992 House Elections.
  • , & . . Organizing Activity Among University Clerical Workers.
  • . . Strategies for Union Growth in Food Manufacturing and Agriculture.

Books

  • . . Rekindling the Movement: Labor’s Quest for Relevance in the Twenty First Century (co-editor). Cornell University Press.
  • . . Organizing to Win (co-editor). Cornell University Press.
  • . . Assault on Workers’ Rights. AFL-CIO, Industrial Union Department.
  • . . Restoring the Promise of American Labor Law (co-editor). Cornell University Press.

Book Sections

  • , , , , & . . Organizing to Win: Introduction.

Magazine Publications

  • , & . . Directory of Faculty Contracts and Bargaining Agents in Institutions of Higher Education. National Center for the Study of Collective Bargaining in Higher Education.
  • . . Directory of Staff Bargaining Agents in Institutions of Higher Education. National Center for the Study of Collective Bargaining in Higher Education.