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.
Labor Policy and Research
“Stories of Belonging” Immigration Project Featured in NYC’s Photoville Festival
Cornell ILR’s Worker Institute (WI) will feature a community-engaged research project at the 13th Annual Photoville Festival at Brooklyn Bridge Park from June 1-16, 2024.
Lively Panel Launches Worker Institute’s New Prevailing Wage Report
Prevailing wage laws protect New Yorkers from a race to the bottom, panelists said during the launch of the new report by Cornell ILR’s The Worker Institute on Sept. 12.
On Tuesday, September 5, Cornell ILR hosted a delegation of five Australian labor leaders from the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees’ Association (SDA) at our NYC conference center. SDA is Australia’s largest private sector union, representing 210,00 workers in retail, warehousing, fast food and other related industries.
Unpaid Care Work and Its Impact on New Yorkers' Paid Employment
To explore current patterns of unpaid caregiving and its impact on New Yorkers’ paid employment, the Worker Institute has published a policy brief sharing relevant findings from the 2022 Empire State Poll, carried out by the Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations (ILR).
This report explores these themes and discusses how policymakers, practitioners, and advocates are addressing the inequities in three sectors: the child care economy, the clean energy economy, and the construction trades, as presented in the Equity in focus—Job Creation for a Just Society series.
This report explores the effects that privatization and austerity have had on mental healthcare capacity in NYS & the employment & wages of public sector mental health workers. Research finds that the public sector mental healthcare workforce & the state’s mental healthcare capacity have decreased significantly between 1990 & 2021.
The Impact of Sexual Harassment and Gendered Violence on Workers in New York State
Workplace sexual harassment and violence have been put under the spotlight during the past five years, heightening public awareness of how pervasive these issues are. Amid this increased attention, policymakers, employers, and unions continue to grapple with the question of how to effectively respond.
The ILR School database that documents U.S. work stoppages informs journalists, policymakers, activists, scholars and the public about labor activism and unrest.
The ILR School Climate Jobs Institute, the first U.S. academic institution focused on conducting research and developing policy for governments across the nation to support clean energy targets, is launching Jan. 25 in New York City.
Expanding Essential Unemployment Coverage in NYS Webinar
As our labor market changes, as our needs change and as new social risks arise, we need an unemployment compensation program to work in tandem with these changes
The ILR Worker Institute released a report in April 2022 entitled Unvarnished: Precarity and Poor Working Conditions for Nail Salon Workers in New York State that detailed the poor working conditions and low wages that nail salon workers in New York State face.
Two ILRies leading Outreach institutes are informing the national conversation around the historic union organizing shift.
Cathy Creighton, director of the ILR Buffalo Co-Lab, and Patricia Campos-Medina, executive director of ILR’s Worker Institute, have been putting their ILR education and experience to work in roles they now hold at the school.
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."
2022 Migrations Awards Include Grant for Worker Institute Faculty on Central American Workers with Temporary Protective Status
The 2022 Migrations Awards include a Justice Futures Team Research Grant awarded to Patricia Campos-Medina and more for their project, “Displaced and Uprooted: Stories of Belonging, Central American TPS Workers' Defiant Struggle for their Right to Stay Home in the U.S.”
A Message from Worker Institute Leadership for International Workers' Day
A message from Worker Institute leadership, Patricia Campos Medina, Executive Director, The Worker Institute and Risa Lieberwitz, Academic Director, The Worker Institute for International Workers' Day, 2022.
Join us on April 26th, 2022 for the second in our Equity in Focus Webinar Series. This webinar will explore the challenges of the child care industry and highlight local examples that are improving access to child care while also raising wages for child care workers.
Watch the Recording: Equity in Focus Webinar Series
On February 24th, the Worker Institute and the Women's Bureau of the US Department of Labor held the first webinar in the Equity in Focus: Job Creation for a Just Society Webinar Series.
Watch recording, "How U.S. Trade Policy Affects Workers"
On March 2nd at 2 pm EST, The ILR School hosted a discussion with United States Trade Representative (USTR) Ambassador Katherine Tai and Cornell experts discussing USTR's initiative to study the distributional effects of U.S. trade policy on workers.
Join us on March 2nd at 2 pm EST when United States Trade Representative (USTR) Ambassador Katherine Tai will discuss USTR's initiative to study the distributional effects of U.S. trade policy on workers
In 2021 the ILR School began tracking the scope of labor unrest in the United States. Today, the Worker Institute and Cornell ILR School released the first ILR Labor Action Tracker Annual Report, which presents key findings on work stoppages for 2021.
New Book on Managing with Labor's Values by Ken Margolies
Each staff person has different history, experience, personality, behavioral styles, culture, and motivation. Managers need to know their staff well so they can determine the best ways to help them be successful.
What does equity in job creation in the construction industry look like in practice?
On February 24th, the Worker Institute at Cornell ILR, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Labor Women’s Bureau, will host its first webinar in a series Equity in Focus: Job Creation for a Just Economy.
Our first webinar will explore how equity in job creation is defined – with a focus on job growth through the current expansion of infrastructure investment. Central to any definition are questions about identifying the policy outcomes and how to measure these.
The Market Starts Speaking Out on a Tech Worker Union Effort at The New York Times
"Unions play an institutional role in influencing decisions in capitalist systems as shareholders," said Patricia Campos-Medina, executive director for the Worker Institute at the Cornell University School of International Labor Relations.
Amazon Reaches Federal Settlement Allowing Workers More Leeway to Organize
Wall Street Journal
Amazon's NLRB settlement allowing workers more leeway to organize “can give an enormous boost to organizing at Amazon and at other large employers in the United States,” says Risa Lieberwitz of ILR's Worker Institute.
The Pandemic Struck Orchestras With Underlying Conditions Hard
The New York Times
“Workers across the spectrum are demanding more and feel like they have more power,” said Patricia Campos-Medina, a longtime labor activist who serves as executive director of Cornell University’s Worker Institute.
Dr. Patricia Campos-Medina, the Executive Director of the Worker Institute at the Cornell School of Industrial Labor Relations, says one of the biggest factors is the global pandemic. Campos-Medina points out that many workers had to deal with enhanced risks in the workplace.
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.
