The Worker Institute brings together researchers, educators and students with practitioners in labor, business and policymaking to address issues related to confronting systemic inequality and building a fair economy, robust democracy and just society. We will share opinion, analysis, research, data, insights and training from our faculty and staff.
News
ULI 2021 Returns to Ithaca Campus
Members of this year’s Union Leadership Institute class convened in July for their second retreat of a three-retreat series on the Ithaca campus
A strike at Nabisco is testing the power of unions in the pandemic
Quartz
“Workers have more power to demand more rights, and unions have more power to demand more from employers like Nabisco,” says Patricia Campos-Medina, the executive director at The Worker Institute at Cornell University.
Zach Cunningham and local partners deliver training for Local 338 (RWDSU)
Cunningham of the Worker Institute, in conjunction with Climate Jobs NY, delivers virtual training for the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union Local 338.
NYC passes new protections for delivery app workers
Marketplace
Customers are finally realizing that ordering on apps has an impact, “that there’s actually a cost for my cheap food, that there’s actually a cost for my 24-hour delivery,” said Patricia Campos-Medina at Cornell’s Worker Institute. “And workers realized that they had the power to demand more.”
Trumka era ends, and union tactics may be in for a makeover
Politico
"People have all of these new issues at work all of a sudden," said Ileen DeVault, academic director of The Worker Institute at Cornell University's Industrial and Labor Relations School.
‘Everyone Wants a Good Job’: The Texas Unions Fighting for a Green New Deal
At the Texas AFL-CIO annual convention, unions voted in favor of a green jobs plan. The proposal was written by the Texas Climate Jobs Project, “a project of the state labor federation and ILR's Worker Institute in consultation with 27 unions statewide.”
Today’s special: Angry diners. What’s a restaurant to do?
The Christian Science Monitor
“The fundamental shift and reckoning of the hospitality industry is happening because the pandemic actually changed the perception of those jobs” to something more valued and necessary, says Patricia Campos-Medina, a labor expert at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York
Worker Institute Statement on the Passing of Richard Trumka
The news of Richard Trumka’s death on Thursday, August 5, 2021, sent shock waves through the U.S. labor movement. A fiery orator and fierce warrior for the working class, America’s unions have lost a powerful leader and The Worker Institute at Cornell ILR has lost a devoted friend.
Sexual harassment at work can cost survivors up to $1.3 million over a lifetime
Market watch
New report from Worker Institute partner , Times Up! identifies the financial and economic tolls that workplace sexual harassment takes on survivors themselves
Why Texas fossil fuel unions signed onto a climate plan
Grist
Skinner, Labor Leading on Climate Director, says “there’s been a real focus on the carbon impact of proposals and not enough emphasis on what type of jobs are these activities going to create, what are the quality of these jobs, are they actually going to help reverse inequality.”
Zach Cunningham, from the Cornell ILR School’s Worker Institute, proposes focusing on making the transition to renewable-energy sources one that provides good-paying jobs, rather than a narrative of “good jobs versus the environment.”
According to Zach Cunningham, education and training extension associate at the Worker Institute, the transition to renewable-energy sources can provide good-paying jobs “if workers and unions fight for them to be good jobs.”
Energy transition could create 1.1 million jobs in Texas, report says
Lara Skinner, Director of Cornell’s Labor Leading on Climate Initiative, provided insight into the number of jobs that could be created in various aspects of growing the renewable energy and climate tech industries in Texas.
Laundry workers essential in pandemic but shut out from benefits
A report released this week on the working conditions of retail laundry workers found that many lack knowledge of their workplace rights and have been victims of wage theft, discrimination and unsafe working conditions.
‘WE ALL QUIT’: How America’s Workers Are Taking Back Their Power
VICE News
"It's an act of protest against abuses and exploitative conditions," said Patricia Campos Medina, executive director of the Worker's Institute at Cornell University. "It’s a sense of empowerment that workers don’t have to tolerate that kind of abuse."
Many businesses in varied industries, along with organizations such as the Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, turned to Nellie Brown for guidance on adjusting practices and policies during the pandemic.
Lara Skinner, Director of the Worker Institute's Labor Leading on Climate, provides insight on the importance of including labor standards on clean energy work.
National Labor Leadership Initiative (NLLI) alum, MaryBe McMillan, President of the North Carolina State AFL-CIO, was interviewed by franknews and Payday Report on organizing and collective bargaining in the South.
Biden Gender Policy Council leaders: We must fix the caregiving crisis COVID has created for women
Fortune
Op-ed in Fortune by the co-chairs of the White House Gender Policy Council cites the Foundations for a Just and Inclusive Recovery report by the Worker Institute.
Fighting Back: Apps Kept City Restaurants and Gig Workers Afloat During the Pandemic, But Now They Want More
wnyc
The Worker Institute's Maria Figueroa speaks to WNYC about how New York City restaurants became heavily reliant on third-party delivery services during the pandemic.
Behind the Camera with Tsering Lama: Documenting Domestic Workers Fight for Rights
Profile of New York State AFL-CIO/Cornell Union Leadership Institute (ULI) and WE RISE graduate Tsering Lama on CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies Blog.
Statement from Worker Institute Extension Faculty Kim Cook on recent passing of AFL-CIO President Emeritus John Sweeney
The faculty and staff at The Worker Institute, ILR-Cornell honors his legacy by re-committing to the work of advancing collective bargaining rights and economic justice for all workers.
Lara Skinner Named to Just Transition Working Group
Lara Skinner, executive director of The Worker Institute at the Cornell University ILR School has been named to the Just Transition Working Group that will support the implementation of New York state’s national leading climate law.
Patricia Campos-Medina Joins the Worker Institute Leadership Team
Patricia Campos-Medina, will serve as co-Executive Director of The Worker Institute alongside current Executive Director, Lara Skinner, and Academic Director, Ileen DeVault, beginning September 7, 2020.
