Buffalo Co-Lab

“There are a lot of common interests between the union and the company,” said Arthur Wheaton, ILR director of labor studies. “The union can benefit the company by giving management workers’ insights, gained from firsthand experience on how to solve problems.”

"Well if you look at what's been happening in the market, Ford thought they would see a lot more of the F-150 Lightnings (electric pickup trucks) and they had to shut down the plant for a while cause they had too much capacity," Art Wheaton said.

Local labor expert Art Wheaton says these strikes are becoming more common and have proven effective in many cases, but it's also risky.

Art Wheaton, director of labor studies, explains why tariffs aren’t a simple fix for economic development.

Art Wheaton, senior extension associate at the ILR Buffalo Co-Lab, says, “Everything is pretty good now, I don't think the full impact of those tariffs has hit yet.”

No car sold in the U.S. is entirely made in America using only parts made in America. "How could we re-source 30,000 parts?" Art Wheaton asked rhetorically. "It couldn't be done in 10 years."

According to Art Wheaton, Ford assembles 80% of its vehicles in the United States, but about half of the parts it uses are imported. "The parts tariffs can be devastating to the industry if imposed," Wheaton said.

“The Status of Child Care in New York State,” a new report released by the Buffalo Co-Lab, finds that recent increases in state subsidies helped stabilize the industry through the pandemic, but were insufficient to reduce inequities in access and quality.

As part of its on-going public impact mission and “data democratization” initiative, the Buffalo Co-Lab has launched the Cornell ILR Eviction Filings Dashboard for New York, a tool designed to help citizens, policymakers and nonprofits more easily visualize where eviction filings have occurred since 2018.

The Cornell ILR Wage Atlas, a new tool out of the Buffalo Co-Lab, shows who in New York state earns living wages and where, helping policymakers and other stakeholders to understand patterns of inequality.

Many have turned to Nellie Brown, director of Workplace Health and Safety Programs at the ILR School, for guidance on how to keep their offices safe from COVID-19.