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Unionizing in our Own Backyard - Central and Upstate NY

UNION DAYS 2025 Join us for an exciting discussion of unionization and collective bargaining across the region. Attend in person in 105 Ives or live online at 4:30 p.m. Our featured speakers are: Tracey Harrison, Vice-president, SEIU 1199, United Healthcare Workers East Christine Johnson, President, UAW Local 2300 Kolya Vitek, Starbucks Workers United To see all Union Days events, click here.

Localist event image for Unionizing in our Own Backyard - Central and Upstate NY
Unionizing in our Own Backyard - Central and Upstate NY

Labor Economics Workshop: Raffaella Sadun

Raffaella Sadun Training within Firms Training investments are essential for improving worker and firm productivity, yet their implementation is often hindered by low participation rates and insufficient worker engagement. This study uses data from three firms—a car manufacturer, a quick-service restaurant chain, and a retail company—to show that variation in training participation among employees is closely tied to differences in middle managers’ behavior and practices. Middle managers who actively engage with their employees and emphasize their well-being and development are associated with significantly higher participation in training programs. These managerial differences significantly influence employee performance and absenteeism, especially during periods of organizational change. Together, these findings underscore the importance of middle managers in bridging the gap between centrally designed HR policies and their effective on-the-ground execution.

Localist event image for Labor Economics Workshop:  Raffaella Sadun
Labor Economics Workshop: Raffaella Sadun

New York’s Climate and Renewable Energy Mandates: A Climate Jobs Perspective

Join Cornell ILR’s Climate Jobs Institute for a timely discussion with state legislators, labor leaders, and environmental advocates on New York’s progress towards its climate and clean energy goals, and how the state can deepen its leadership to reach these goals and build an equitable clean energy economy that benefits workers and communities alike.
Two workers installing solar panels
New York’s Climate and Renewable Energy Mandates: A Climate Jobs Perspective

Labor Economics Workshop: Elio Nimier-David

Elio Nimier-David Location Effects or Sorting? Evidence from Firm Relocation Abstract: Why are wages in cities like New York or Paris higher than in others? This paper uses firm mobility to separate the role of “location effects” (e.g., local geography, infrastructure, and agglomeration) from the spatial sorting of workers and firms. Using French administrative records and U.S. commercial data, we first document that firm mobility is widespread: 4% of establishments relocate annually. Establishments retain their main activity and structure as they move, but adjust their workforce and wages. Combining firm and worker mobility, we then decompose wage disparities across French commuting zones. We find that spatial wage differences are largely driven by the sorting and co-location of workers and firms: location effects account for only 2–5% of disparities, while differences in the composition of workers and establishments account for around 30% and 15%, respectively. The remaining half is accounted for by the co-location of high-wage workers and firms, especially in cities with high location effects. Revisiting the elasticity of local wages to population density, we find a significant coefficient of 0.007—two to three times lower than estimates not controlling for firm composition.

Localist event image for Labor Economics Workshop: Elio Nimier-David
Labor Economics Workshop: Elio Nimier-David

Judith Cutchin: "COVID-19: A Look Back at the First Five Years from the Frontlines"

New York City was the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, and nurses were on the frontlines. In the first months of the pandemic, nurses at the city’s public hospitals were hit particularly hard. They experienced a surge of patients and witnessed casualties on a scale they had never seen before. While struggling to learn how to treat this new, deadly infectious disease and to advocate for workplace protections for frontline healthcare workers, they managed to save hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers. We recently commemorated the five-year anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic. The scientific community has learned more about the virus and developed vaccines and better treatments; and COVID-19 is now endemic, driving seasonal patient surges in our hospitals. In this keynote, Judith Cutchin will examine the major lessons learned on the frontlines from a workers’ rights and public health perspective; from proper infection control, to just workers compensation and sick leave policies, to hospital preparedness, to long-term health impacts, to public health infrastructure. We will discuss what nurses, frontline healthcare workers, patients and the community at large still need to defend against COVID-19 and any other emerging public health threat in the current political environment. Dr. Judith Cutchin has been a nurse for over 30 years and is currently working as Head Nurse in the Specialty Practice at NYC Health+Hospitals / Woodhull Hospital where she is also the LBU president. She is committed to patient education and ensuring that all New Yorkers receive high-quality healthcare, regardless of ability to pay or immigration status. She is NYSNA's first vice president and has served on the NYSNA board since 2018. Dr Cutchin is the chair of NYSNA’s Committee on Social Justice and Civil Rights and also a vice president of NNU. This keynote opens a wider Cornell-based conference (May 5-7) on The Biopolitics of Global Health After Covid-19. For more information visit: https://www.biopoliticsofglobalhealth.com/ Or check the full conference program here. Host: Department of Romance Studies Cosponsors: The College of Arts and Sciences & Department of Anthropology

Localist event image for Judith Cutchin: "COVID-19: A Look Back at the First Five Years from the Frontlines"
Judith Cutchin: "COVID-19: A Look Back at the First Five Years from the Frontlines"

Working Together: Advancing Disability Inclusion in NYS Workplaces

In-person, day-long conference for disability service providers, transition educators, policymakers, businesses, and self-advocates.
In-person conference, called Working Together: Advancing Disability Inclusion in NYS Workplaces
Working Together: Advancing Disability Inclusion in NYS Workplaces