[Excerpt] A newsletter on workplace issues and research from the School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University

Edid, Editor, Maralyn

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January 2008 
IWS briefing, Winter 2008 Volume 8 Issue 1 
Maralyn Edid, Editor 
Institute of Workplace Studies, me16@cornell.edu 
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IWS briefing, Winter 2008 Volume 8 Issue 1 
Abstract 
[Excerpt] A newsletter on workplace issues and research from the School of Industrial and Labor 
Relations at Cornell University. 
Keywords 
ILR, Institute for Workplace Studies, IWS, global economy, globalization, Harry Katz, Lois Gray 
Comments 
Suggested Citation 
IWS briefing (Winter 2008) [Electronic version]. New York, NY: Cornell University, School of Industrial and 
Labor Relations, Institute for Workplace Studies. 
http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/briefs/39 
This article is available at DigitalCommons@ILR: https://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/briefs/39 
1 IN THIS ISSUE
A newsletter on
workplace issues
and research
from the School of
Industrial and
Labor Relations at
Cornell University
1 Global Economy
and Labor
1 New Globalization
Initiative
2 Dean Goes Global
3 Lois Gray on Labor
Relations
Winter 2008
Volume 8 Issue 1
Global Economy Poses Challenges
for Labor Movements Worldwide
LABOR MOVEMENTS WORLDWIDE ARE STRUGGLING with the challengesposed by a global economy. Union bargaining power haseroded and workers’ rights mean more on paper than they do
on the shopfloor. But if trade union activists from far-flung countries
could jointly grapple with the big questions—stopping what they
perceive as the juggernaut of corporate power is one—then they stand
a chance of shaping a world that reflects the interests of workers and
their families.
And just what would those interests be? For starters, sustainable de-
velopment, social justice, democratic governance, and international
solidarity. Indeed, these are the four pillars around which the Cornell
Global Labor Institute (GLI), based at ILR, is building its agenda.
Since its inception in 2004, GLI has organized dozens of conferences,
forums, and seminars that focused on the many ways the changing
global economy affects workers and unions. It has brought together
American union leaders and colleagues from other parts of the world,
hosted foreign political dignitaries (including Evo Morales, president
of Bolivia, and Michele Bachelet, who was later elected president of
Chile), and given four groups of Chinese labor leaders a crash course
on unions in the American workplace.
GLI is encouraging labor to consider the modern economy from a
holistic point of view. “Unions lack a convincing and compelling
strategy to deal with globalization,” notes Sean Sweeney, director of
GLI. “There have been 20 years of rhetoric about international link-
ages among unions. But you can’t extend collective bargaining across
borders. And what good are core labor standards if you can’t enforce
them?” Corporate campaigns against sweatshops here and abroad
have had some effect, Dr. Sweeney concedes, but tactical maneuvers
like these don’t attack what labor scholars consider the underlying
issue: the distribution of wealth and power in a global economy.
The inspirational spark for the institute flared in September, 2003 when
Brazil’s President Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva spoke at an ILR event in
New York City. He challenged Cornell to build on its tradition of edu-
cating and working with unions by spearheading efforts to help labor
articulate a clear vision of the future. Dr. Sweeney, director of labor
studies for ILR Extension at the time and an advocate of strengthen-
ing the school’s global outreach, approached then-dean Edward
ILR Launches Workplace
and Globalization Initiative
Globalization is all the rage these
days. Free trade agreements.
International capital flows. Emerg-
ing economies. But globalization is
also the source of much rage. Sectoral
declines. Rising inequality. Threats to
cultural identity. Indeed, despite the
promised and realized benefits of
globalization, including lower prices
for consumers and a rising standard
of living, deep-rooted poverty remains
pervasive in many parts of the world.
Just how globalization affects
workers, particularly those in develop-
ing countries, is the focus of a new
initiative at ILR. The Program on Glo-
balization and the Workplace, with
seed money from David M. Cohen
(BSILR ’73) and Abby Joseph Cohen
(AB ’73), is sponsoring research and
organizing activities dealing with the
workplace-related challenges and
opportunities arising out of globaliza-
tion. Intellectual leadership comes from
Gary Fields, professor of labor eco-
nomics and director of the program.
“The Cohens are concerned about
world poverty and economic develop-
ment, and I’ve worked on those prob-
lems my entire career,” Prof. Fields
explains. “Dean Katz introduced us,
and we had a meeting of the minds.”
In October, the program launched
its speaker series with a presentation
by Joseph E. Stiglitz, University Pro-
fessor at Columbia University and
winner of the 2001 Nobel Memorial
Prize in Economic Science. Not one to
mince words, Prof. Stiglitz, who served
as chairman of President Clinton’s
Council of Economic Advisers and as
chief economist and senior vice
president of the World Bank, offered
a blunt but balanced critique of glo-
balization. “It has moved many mil-
continued on page 2
continued on page 2
2Lawler about setting up an institute
that would focus on labor’s role in a
rapidly changing world. The proposal
was accepted and GLI was born.
Today, GLI activities feed union activ-
ists’ appetite for forging international
relationships and understanding the
political economy of globalization.
Within this framework, GLI also fa-
cilitates labor’s growing engagement
with environmental issues. A research
project recently completed with the
Worldwatch Institute provides a glo-
bal view of “green jobs” in key in-
dustries, such as agriculture, local
food systems, and energy conserva-
tion. Last spring, a GLI conference on
climate change and clean energy at-
tracted more than 350 representatives
from labor, environmental, and en-
ergy policy organizations. It was the
largest labor gathering ever to focus
on the environment and seems to
have galvanized the labor movement.
District Council 37, New York City’s
largest public employee union, will
soon set up a committee on the envi-
ronment. In addition, a contingent of
American and Canadian union lead-
ers, pulled together by GLI, attended
the international climate change nego-
tiations in Indonesia this past Decem-
ber. The trip marked quite a turn-
around from American labor’s earlier
reluctance to support the 1997 Kyoto
Protocol on climate change. “The U.S.-
Canada delegation was an important
part of the larger global labor pres-
ence,” Dr. Sweeney says. “But with-
out Cornell’s intervention, there would
have been no delegation.”
Without GLI’s involvement, it is also
possible that union movements around
the world would be isolated and frus-
trated in their attempts to counter
what may be the regrettable byproducts
of globalization, including rising
income inequality and environmental
degradation. Two years ago GLI con-
vened an international task force of 28
union leaders and top staff members
to discuss, analyze, and stimulate
new thinking about long-term devel-
opment issues, such as global finance
and governance, health and education,
and economic democracy. When fin-
ished later this year, the report will
lay out the challenges globalization
creates for workers, consider the
responses to date of country-based
trade union movements, and offer a
series of recommendations for a more
coordinated and potentially more
effective approach to dealing with an
anxiety-inducing reality.
“Our hope is to generate debate across
the labor community about where we
want the planet to be 25 years out,”
Dr. Sweeney says. “We want to recon-
struct the vision of the future.” ■
lions of people out of poverty,” he said,
noting the historic growth rates in India
and China. “But globalization could work
better; its management is the problem. The
rules of the game are stacked against
developing countries.” The result, Prof.
Stiglitz continued, is growing inequality
between rich countries and poor countries
coupled with a widening gap between rich
residents and poor residents within coun-
tries. He cited the problems confronting
Africa, including corruption, an uneducated
populace, and the failure of companies that
extract natural resources to pay full value.
Latin America and Southeast Asia, he
noted, are still dealing with the fallout from
failed financial prescriptions offered by the
International Monetary Fund and the World
Bank during the 1980s and early1990s that
were intended to cure economic ills and spur
growth. In the United States, the number of
families living in poverty has increased
and median wages have stagnated.
Like Prof. Stiglitz, Prof. Fields is keen to
find and promote solutions to such problems.
Funding from the globalization program will
enable him to expand his research agenda
and also translate his and other researchers’
findings into a book for informed lay readers.
Tentatively entitled Earning Their Way Out of
Poverty, the book’s story will be told from the
point of view of a poor wage earner in India,
a struggling self-employed worker engaged
in micro-enterprise in South Africa, and an
impoverished agricultural worker in China.
Lessons from academic studies and policy
initiatives that focus on strategies and tactics
to improve earning opportunities will be
woven into the text.
“There are ways to raise incomes for
workers who stay within their sectors,”
Prof. Fields notes, “and possibilities for
creating additional opportunities in other
sectors.” For example, giving a farmer a
cell phone would enable him to obtain more
accurate and timely information about
market prices and adjust his behavior so
as to maximize his income. Or, where the
local business climate makes it feasible to
attract new investment (this is a particular
interest of Ms. Cohen), the private sector
could create more stable and higher-paying
jobs. Prof. Fields also plans to explore
gender-specific issues, such as the well-
documented tendency of women to use
ILR Dean Goes Global
TWO RECENT TRIPS BY ILR DeanHarry C. Katz have reinforcedthe school’s expanding global
reach. In both South Korea and Turkey,
Dean Katz presented papers and lec-
tures that reflected his particular exper-
tise and also highlighted the link
between the school’s research focus
and public policy concerns.
The visit to Seoul involved a speech at
the Global Human Resources Forum, a
talk at the Ministry of Labor, and sev-
eral additional presentations. Dean Katz
addressed audiences that included busi-
ness leaders, academics, and policy
makers. He spoke about the role of
social partnerships (a tripartite dia-
logue among labor, management, and
government) in advancing economic
development. He also discussed collec-
tive bargaining and union organizing in
the United States in the context of de-
clining union membership and shared
his observations about the recently
negotiated contract between General
Motors Corp. and the United Auto
Workers union, which radically altered
the management and financing of mem-
bers’ health care benefits.
continued on page 4 continued on page 4
Global Economy
continued from page 1
Globalization Program
continued from page 1
3EDITOR’S NOTE: WHEN ILR EXTENSION WAS LAUNCHED in Buffalo in 1947, thefirst faculty member hired was Lois Gray, then a field examiner for theNational Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Now the Jean McKelvey-Alice
Grant Professor Emerita of Labor-Management Relations at ILR, Prof. Gray has
served as director of Extension’s New York City office and as associate dean
and director of Extension. Prof. Gray insists she is semi-retired but in reality
she is an active participant in Extension’s Workforce, Industry, and Economic
Development unit and involved in a long-term study of the arts and entertain-
ment industry. Highlights of a conversation with Prof. Gray follow; her com-
ments focus on the evolution of labor-management relations in the United States.
Labor Relations Today, Tomorrow, and Yesterday:
A Conversation with Professor Emerita Lois Gray
Q: What are the greatest challenges
facing the American labor movement
today?
A: Primarily, the decline of labor’s
economic and political power since its
zenith in the 1950s. The Wagner Act
(a.k.a. National Labor Relations Act of
1935) emphasized protecting workers’
right to organize, and the job of NLRB
field examiners was to rigorously
enforce that. But the Taft-Hartley Act
of 1947 and various presidential
administrations watered down NLRA
protections; meanwhile, the waning
influence of organized labor and the
growing influence of organized man-
agement reinforced the trend. Labor
has also suffered from an inability to
organize more members, reflecting
both its loss of political clout and its
earlier emphasis on servicing existing
members rather than adding new
members to the ranks.
Economic factors are perhaps most
important. The peak of union power
coincided with a period during which
major employers in manufacturing,
such as steel and auto, faced little
international competition and basi-
cally operated as oligopolies. They
were thus in a position to agree to
terms and conditions for workers
that continued to improve with each
succeeding contract. Eventually,
manufacturers were challenged by
foreign competitors and large and
small employers alike began moving
production out of the U.S. and ship-
ping goods back in.
Q: What are the complementary chal-
lenges confronting American employers?
A: International competition and the
fight for survival. Globalization affects
all employers even where they are not
directly confronting foreign competi-
tors; everyone is under relentless pres-
sure to reduce costs. Although research
suggests that unions help lower turn-
over and generate other benefits for
employers, these gains are long-term.
Not many in business have that long-
term view because they are always
trying to meet the next payroll. When
we had oligopolies, there was less pres-
sure for immediate results so business
competed on design or service. With
the rise of international competition,
employers’ whole outlook changed.
Q: How is this affecting labor-manage-
ment relations?
A: Management is taking a harder line
with labor, and even in non-union
shops, employees are less likely to get
generous benefits. Employers are switch-
ing to 401k plans or eliminating pensions
altogether; many are cutting health
benefits or asking for greater employee
contributions. After a period in the 1980s
and 1990s when many unions and man-
agements tried working together to
save jobs and cut costs, the atmo-
sphere grew more adversarial. But it’s
easy to over-generalize: there are dif-
ferent patterns in different sectors and
regions, and some labor-management
partnerships are well established and
quite harmonious, particularly those
that operate in local markets.
Q: Is there any other system or model
from which America might borrow
ideas for dealing with current and fu-
ture stressors on labor-management
relations?
A: European countries pay high wages
and have strong social safety nets, yet
their companies are still competitive.
They are successful in part because the
unions have their own political parties
and work with employers at the na-
tional level. European unions develop
political programs that are tied to the
economy, and at the national level, they
reach understandings with the corpora-
tions. The parties know what to expect
of each other and recognize their com-
mon interests. The United States is
certainly bigger and more complex, but
we’ve never had that tradition. Ironi-
cally, after World War II we encouraged
the idea of workers’ councils in Ger-
many but here it’s resisted by both
labor and management: the unions are
afraid of being overshadowed by the
councils and employers just don’t want
to share power.
Q: Given the economy’s fundamental
transformation, where do you see la-
bor-management relations heading over
the next five years?
A: If the Democrats come to power in
the next election cycle, I expect we’ll
be in a significantly different political
environment. There may be more em-
phasis on industrial planning, perhaps
along the lines of what they do in Eu-
rope and Japan. There are likely to be
changes in labor law and the way it’s
interpreted. Unions are hoping for
recognition through card check, but I’m
not sure that is enough; we also need
to tighten the law and penalize employ-
ers who do not enter into good faith
bargaining for first contracts. And
maybe we’ll see some restructuring to
make unions more like community
unions, which are not tied to a single
workplace or employer but are more
geographically bounded. ■
Institute for
Workplace Studies
School of Industrial and Labor
Relations / Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10016
tel: (212) 340-2886
fax: (212) 340-2893
email: iwsnyc@cornell.edu
web: www.ilr.cornell.edu/iws
Director: Samuel B. Bacharach
Editor: Maralyn Edid
Program Director: Sara Edwards
16 East 34th Street, 4th Floor, New York, NY 10016
4
GO TO➜
www.ilr.cornell.edu/iws to explore the new
Institute for Workplace Studies website.
discretionary income more responsibly than
men and thereby better satisfy the needs of
their children and community.
Prof. Fields has two objectives for the
new program, which has funding for three
years. The first is simply to do good work
by using the available resources to pro-
mote high quality faculty and student
research, to strengthen the undergraduate
experience, and to offer intellectual en-
gagement to the ILR and broader Cornell
communities. The second is to use the
good work to attract ongoing support
from alumni, foundations, and other
sources. Permanent funding would sup-
port continuation of existing initiatives,
new activities and research, and an ex-
panded focus to include globalization’s
impact on the American workplace. ■
ILR was well represented in Istanbul, where Dean
Katz and colleague Nick Salvatore, from the col-
lective bargaining, labor law, and history depart-
ment, were featured speakers at the sixth annual
International Knowledge Economics and Manage-
ment Congress. Dean Katz’s presentation to the
largely academic audience concerned the relation-
ship between industrial relations and income
inequality; Prof. Salvatore focused on American
political economy, i.e., the connections between
technology, economic growth, and the state, from
1870-2000. A former ILR statistics professor, Ali
Hadi, was also on the agenda. The event was
sponsored by the Faculty of Economics at Istanbul
University, which has a long-standing relation-
ship with ILR. ■
Dean Goes Global
continued from page 2
Globalization Program
continued from page 2


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