Strategic Leadership

Joe Hansen, president of United Food and Commercial Workers Union, will visit the ILR School Nov. 17-18 as the fall semester Alice B. Grant Labor Leader in Residence.

His Nov. 17 presentation at ILR’s Collective Bargaining Workshop is free and open to the public. From 4:30 to 5:45 p.m. in 111 Ives Hall, the talk is entitled “United Food and Commercial Workers’ Strategic Priorities -- Poised for Growth.”

More information is available through Professor Richard Hurd at rwh8@cornell.edu.

The United Food and Commercial Workers Union represents 1.3 million Americans and Canadians in retail groceries, meatpacking, food processing and other industries.

Hansen is also president of Union Network International, a Switzerland-based
federation of 900 unions from more than 100 countries. It represents 15.5 million members.

Through his roles at both organizations, Hansen oversees a campaign to organize Wal-Mart workers around the world. Wal-Mart is ranked by many as the largest private employer in the world and as a world leader in corporate revenues.

Alice Grant was one of the founders of the ILR School's Extension division, and a leader of ILR’s early efforts to build a strong outreach and educational program for trade unionists.

Former Alice B. Grant Labor Leaders in Residence include AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers President Jack Sheinkman, Pride at Work Co-President Nancy Wohlforth, Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance President Kent Wong and Congress of South Africa Trade Unions Regional Secretary Tony Ehrenreich.