Labor Leadership Development
Learn more about our Labor Leadership Development programsThe New York State AFL-CIO/Cornell Union Leadership Institute (ULI) prepares labor and worker-justice leaders to effectively and strategically advance the rights of workers.
The National Labor Leadership Initiative (NLLI) is an intensive year-long leadership development program for top-level national leaders in the labor movement and the broader movement for worker justice.
Trainings in NYC
From the #MeToo movement, to the rise in intimate partner violence during the pandemic, to the surge of anti-transgender and anti-LGBTQ discrimination—unions face the challenge of how to tackle the impact of sexual harassment and gender-based violence on their members. The roots of gender discrimination and sexual violence are deeply embedded in workplace culture, as our workplaces are microcosms of society.
It is critical that managers at unions and social justice organizations receive training to become effective leaders and make the best use of limited resources. Participants learn techniques for helping their staff succeed and respond appropriately to common issues while honoring the values of the labor movement.
Topical Trainings
We Rise is a peer training and organizing program designed to transform the domestic worker industry and uplift the care economy. We Rise is open to worker justice organizations affiliated with the National Domestic Workers Alliance. It's a coalition of worker justice organizations across New York that connects worker leadership with industry transformation through peer training in 10 key modules and transformative campaigns like Care Forward, the nation's first neighborhood-based standards-raising initiative for domestic work. See the Worker Insitute's Year Long Evaluation demonstrating that We Rise successfully prepares workers for negotiation and policy change.
Green Power: Low-Wage Workers in the Bio-Diverse Economy
This power-building training empowers precarious workers to play a central role in defining and securing jobs within the emerging biodiverse economy. This training is open to worker centers and unions across the country. The program identifies opportunities for good, family-sustaining jobs through comprehensive community and industry needs assessments. It achieves this by implementing peer-to-peer training programs and establishing labor and community structures, such as the Good Green Jobs Hub, which prioritizes the voices and experiences of precarious workers in driving economic growth and development.
Regenerative Organizing: Change from the Inside Out
Regenerative organizing is a model for unions and worker justice organizations to move beyond burnout, conflict, and reactive strategies to renew and sustain activists, unite movements, and create powerful long-term visions. It is a collaboration between the Fire that Fuels initiative and Cornell worker centers and unions to build regeneration from the inside out. Participants engage in intensive training and develop regenerative initiatives within their workers' justice organizations and unions.
Equity, Cultural Shift and Organizational Change
The program offers training and technical support for unions and worker centers to transform practices, policies, and collective bargaining language. It aims to prevent and address discrimination and harassment from a multidimensional perspective. This approach involves organizational needs assessments, curriculum development and customization, and training delivery through multiple formats, including train-the-trainer sessions and customized sessions for each level of the union or organization. This full-spectrum approach to training ensures engagement at every level of the organizational structure.
The Workers Center Innovation Hub
The Workers Center Innovation Hub convenes economic and worker justice leaders into a network for organizing and leadership development to build collective representation and bargaining rights for precarious workers in today's economy. The hub brings together technical/research support, cross-sector collaboration, transformational leadership development, and peer training. It also helps build sustainable capacity through regional strategies and convenings on Long Island, Upstate, and Metro NY.
Customized Training
The Worker Institute faculty has experience in most industries. They can design a program around your organization's particular needs and characteristics. In addition, they can customize all Worker Institute courses and workshops to fit your specific needs.
Examples include:
- Specialized training for a union bargaining committee and staff preparing to engage in a public or private sector collective bargaining
- Training to build a base and member leadership for worker justice organizations
- Training on facilitation and increasing engagement across the worker center or union
- Team building for a new union executive board or staff
- Strategic research training for union leaders in a specific industry
- Training for union stewards/delegates or internal organizers on building membership involvement and contract enforcement
- Training on "Managing and Supervising with Labors Values" tailored to your union
To discuss your organization's training needs contact:
Elaine Kim
New York City Office
ek583@cornell.edu
Arthur Wheaton
Workplaces & Industry Education Specialist
Buffalo Office
acw18@cornell.edu, (716) 852-4191