Leaders of grassroots organizing efforts that have energized the national conversation about worker rights will speak at the ILR School April 13, 17 and 25.
The public is invited to attend in person or online via this Zoom link.
Speakers include ILR Labor Leaders in Residence Chris Smalls and Derrick Palmer, who a year ago rallied warehouse workers in a Staten Island warehouse to form the nation's first union at Amazon.
It was an historic turn of events. Many saw it as a turning point for the U.S. labor movement. The independent Amazon Labor Union is now seeking its first contract with the corporation.
Union Days events are sponsored by ILR's Worker Institute. Co-sponsors are the People's Organizing Collective, Graduate Labor Organization, ILR Graduate Student Association, ILR Office of Career Services, Cornell Law School, Cornell Center for the Study of Inequality, Cornell Law & Society minor, Cornell Farmworker Program and the Cornell chapter of the American Association of University Professors.
Events this month are:
Thursday, April 13
4:30-6 p.m.
ILR School Ives Hall, Room 305, or online.
Southern Workers Organizing
Speakers:
- Kim Kelly, author, "Fight Like Hell: The Untold History of American Labor"
- Maria Harmon, Step Up Louisiana
- Ieisha Franceis, Union of Southern Service Workers
- Haeden Wright, auxiliary president, United Mine Workers Locals 2368 and 2245
Monday, April 17
4:30-6 p.m.
ILR School Ives Hall, Room 305, or online.
Taking on a Giant: The Path to Unionizing the First Amazon Warehouse in America
Speakers:
- Chris Smalls, president, Amazon Labor Union
- Derrick Palmer, vice president, Amazon Labor Union
Tuesday, April 25
4:30-6 p.m.
ILR School Ives Hall, Room 115, or online.
"A Founder's Account of the 9 to 5 Movement"
Speaker:
- Ellen Cassedy, author of "Working 9 to 5: A Women's Movement, a Labor Union, and the Iconic Movie"
