Historic agreement solidifies ties between CU's ILR and UN's world labor group

Jean-Pierre Laviec, president of the International Institute for Labour Studies, left, listens as Ed Lawler, dean of the School of Industrial and Labor Relations, talks publicly about the new Memorandum of Understanding between the IILS and the ILR School, in the Doherty Lounge of Ives Hall on Sept. 23. The agreement will open doors overseas for student internships and faculty research in international labor studies. Frank DiMeo/University Photography

By Linda Myers

Challenges to fair labor practices in many corners of the world, from Ghana to Guatemala, is a subject that has engaged faculty and students at Cornell's School of Industrial and Labor Relations since the economy became more global.

A number of ILR faculty members and extension associates have been research consultants over the years on initiatives at the International Labor Organization (ILO) in Geneva, Switzerland, and several have participated in research projects at its International Institute for Labour Studies (IILS), also in Geneva. The ILO is a specialized United Nations agency that sets standards and shapes policy for basic workers' rights, stable employment and safe and healthy working conditions around the world. The IILS is its research arm.

On Sept. 23 in Ives Hall's Doherty Lounge, ILR Dean Edward Lawler and Jean-Pierre Laviec, director of the IILS, signed a historic memorandum of understanding formalizing the growing relationship between the ILR School and the IILS and paving the way for further faculty and student involvement with the institute and its parent organization in Geneva. Faculty, staff and students comprised the audience for the event, which was billed as a workshop and opportunity to learn more about the two international labor groups. Also in attendance was Mary Covington, acting director of the ILO's Washington office, who traveled to Ithaca to be present for the event.

"Our newly formalized relationship with the International Institute for Labour Studies promotes greater understanding of the forces that drive the emerging workplace and work-standards issues of the 21st century and to more social dialog on the most-pressing problems," said Lawler. "In addition, the agreement represents a huge step in the ILR School's ongoing efforts to extend its international presence and will amplify the opportunities open to our faculty and students, giving them important contacts in the 176 countries where the ILO operates."

"This is one very concrete step in a series of building connections with the ILO," said Professor Sarosh Kuruvilla, one of two visionaries at the ILR School who worked behind the scenes for the memorandum's development (the other was Stuart Basefsky, senior reference librarian at the ILR School's Catherwood Library). "It makes sense that the ILR School and the ILO should collaborate," said Kuruvilla. "They have the same constituencies -- labor, management and government -- and are the two largest institutions in their areas. For the ILR School, that's research and education, and for the ILO, it's policy."

Basefsky's links with the ILO and its research arm are related to an earlier agreement that established the Catherwood Library as one of only two ILO Depository Libraries in the United States, with ILO publications provided free to library users. Also, as director of the Institute for Workplace Studies' News Bureau, which provides links to documentation behind the labor news, Basefsky was invited to Geneva last February and March to help the IILS reconstruct its own information and communication efforts. In addition, he had worked with Laviec before on the ILO Mirror Site for the Americas, in conjunction with Cornell's law library and its director, Claire Germaine, a professor of law.

One of the agreement's benefits, Basefsky said, is, "It establishes a way to share opportunities throughout the school and with anyone on campus working on workplace issues. Another is a guarantee of least two Cornell student internships at the ILO and two faculty research slots at the IILS a year, with office space and computers provided."

Harry Katz, the Jack Sheinkman Professor in Collective Bargaining at the ILR School, is excited about the possibilities that formalizing the relationship offers. "It creates a platform for more internships, exposes faculty to a branch of the ILO [the IILS] that has some really high-quality researchers in international comparative labor and connects students to some really interesting work being done at the ILO," he said. "It also is an experiment that may offer guidance for other international exchanges at the school."

Associate Professor Maria Cook, who heads a committee looking for ways to broaden the school's international reach, agrees: "It expands the international study and work opportunities available to ILR graduate and undergraduate students" and opens doors for faculty researchers. "Both the IILS and the ILR School are committed to quality research and education to enhance opportunities for decent work around the world. This partnership will allow us to combine forces toward this common goal."

The expanded student internship arrangements, promoted by Professor Cletus Daniel, is seen as a big plus by Bryan Randall, an ILR graduate student who will intern at the ILO in Geneva starting in January 2004. "I look at this as an exciting opportunity to work with two of the leading institutes of labor and gain valued hands-on experience and skills that will help me with my future goals," Randall said. "It also is a chance to meet professionals and academics from around the world who are committed to decent work for everyone."