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Events

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ILR Hosts 2025 UALE Northeast Summer School for Women+ in Unions and Worker Organizations

This summer, the reach of labor education in Ithaca expanded as more than 150 workers united as a network of leaders grounded in history and ready to drive meaningful change in their own communities.
Group shot of UALE Summer School participants
ILR Hosts 2025 UALE Northeast Summer School for Women+ in Unions and Worker Organizations

Worker Voices Matter in Deciding the Future of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement (USMCA)

Given the ongoing debate on the impact of trade tariffs on US job creation, the Worker Institute, with a generous grant from CAROW, sponsored a transnational labor roundtable conference that brought together forty labor and academic stakeholders from the United States, Mexico, and Canada...
Group shot from USMCA roundtable event in Mexico City
Worker Voices Matter in Deciding the Future of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement (USMCA)

ILR and Friends Remember and Recommit to Lois Gray’s Legacy

On April 17, friends and colleagues of the late Lois Gray gathered at ILR’s New York City office to remember the life work of the beloved and respected labor leader.
View of the audience, people sitting and some standing up at the back
ILR and Friends Remember and Recommit to Lois Gray’s Legacy

News

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Bargaining in Times of Crisis

Labor has always stood up for all workers in times of crisis. At this moment in our country’s history, our labor movement faces an unprecedented assault on its very foundation; the ability to represent and organize workers, defend workers’ rights, citizens and non-citizens, in a free and independent society.
Classroom with students and teachers facilitating at the front
Bargaining in Times of Crisis

Worker Institute Researcher Elected to NYAAPOR Council

Michael Lenmark, Survey Statistician at the Worker Institute, has been elected as the Associate Secretary Treasurer for the American Association for Public Opinion Research, New York.
Michael Lenmark
Worker Institute Researcher Elected to NYAAPOR Council

ILR Union Leadership Institute Holds Reunion in New York City

Despite late May rain, 85 alumni of Cornell ILR’s Union Leadership Institute gathered in New York City to reunite over 20 years of program cohorts.
Group of five people on stage delivering address at ULI reunion
ILR Union Leadership Institute Holds Reunion in New York City

Reports

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Fashion’s Data Doubles: How AI is Reshaping Modeling Work

Generative AI technologies are shifting conditions of work across different creative fields. In a new research brief, the Worker Institute and Data & Society share findings from their research exploring how new applications of generative AI are affecting fashion models.
Photo by Briana Elledge and Jaka Vinsek
Fashion’s Data Doubles: How AI is Reshaping Modeling Work

Unpaid Caregiving and Its Impact on New Yorkers' Paid Employment

The findings affirm that caregiving—both unpaid caregiving and access to paid care support—remains a pressing concern for the substantial number of New Yorkers who are providing care for children and/or adults.
A home healthcare worker takes a man's blood pressure.
Unpaid Caregiving and Its Impact on New Yorkers' Paid Employment

The Role and Value of Social and Labor Protections

This policy snapshot summarizes findings from questions pertaining to respondents’ wages and benefits and their perception of social and labor protections.
A calculator, cash and budget journal on a table.
The Role and Value of Social and Labor Protections

Equity at Work

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Data Snapshots on Care Work, Online Platform Work, and Sexual Harassment in New York State

The Worker Institute recently published three data snapshots of findings to questions asked about the care economy, the experience of sexual harassment in the workplace, and work for online platforms. Read on for a preview of key findings with links to the three data snapshots.
A nurse tends to a wheelchair bound patient in her home
Data Snapshots on Care Work, Online Platform Work, and Sexual Harassment in New York State

Understanding The Increase in Domestic Violence During the Coronavirus Pandemic as a Union Issue

KC Wagner discusses Domestic violence as a growing concern for unions during the COVID-19 crisis.
abstract texture to illustrate hope and sadness
Understanding The Increase in Domestic Violence During the Coronavirus Pandemic as a Union Issue

Advance Findings from Report on Sexual Harassment in the Workplace

Quid pro quo workplace sexual harassment is widespread across New York state.
Missing alt
Advance Findings from Report on Sexual Harassment in the Workplace

Labor Leadership Initiatives

More on Labor Leadership Initiatives

Empowering Workers, Building Leaders

On October 9, 2025, thirty participants celebrated their graduation from the first Housekeeping Technician and Leadership Development Workshop Series, a collaborative training effort between Labor Leadership Initiatives at Cornell’s ILR School and the Worker Justice Project (WJP).
WJP Graduation. Cleaning technicians 2
Empowering Workers, Building Leaders

New Report Highlights 20+ Years of ULI’s Impact on New York’s Labor Leadership

A revealing evaluation shows how the Union Leadership Institute has empowered hundreds of leaders to strengthen the labor movement and advance equity across New York State.
ULI Cohort 2024-2025
New Report Highlights 20+ Years of ULI’s Impact on New York’s Labor Leadership

ULI Spotlight: Mark Carter, President of the Peekskill Professional Firefighters Local 2343

Mark Carter is the first Black President of the Peekskill Professional Firefighters Local 2343 and the recipient of the 2025-2026 NYS AFL-CIO Union L.E.A.D. Scholarship.
Mark Carter, Peekskill Professional Firefighters Local 2343
ULI Spotlight: Mark Carter, President of the Peekskill Professional Firefighters Local 2343