At its heart, the Worker Institute views its work as a contribution to reversing the growing inequality, now at historic levels, which undermines the economic and social sustainability of a vibrant democratic society.  The Institute provides the nation’s most comprehensive education, training, research, and organizational support for union leaders and worker advocates.  Worker Institute research fellows, sometimes in small teams, will have the opportunity to work directly with Ithaca-based faculty and ILR labor extension faculty based in NYC.

The fellowship program’s goal is to provide ILR students with a unique opportunity to contribute to important projects concerning workers and unions, expand their research skills, learn about potential career paths and interact with faculty, labor leaders and other fellows.

The main selection criteria include a strong academic record and a demonstrated interest in one of the Worker Institute’s research areas. 

Financialization and the Future of Care Work: Private Equity, Job Quality, and Worker Wellbeing in Veterinary Clinics

The project examines how private equity and financialized ownership reshape job quality and worker wellbeing, using veterinary clinics as a case. Through a mixed-methods design — a longitudinal panel survey of clinic workers paired with in-depth interviews — we ask how leveraged buyouts change pay, staffing, scheduling, autonomy, and worker voice, and how those changes affect workers' mental health and the quality of care they are able to provide, with particular attention to inequalities across occupational groups. We frame the work squarely within the Worker Institute's Future of Care Work agenda, keeping care workers' own experiences and voices at the center.

We also see a clear overlap with the ongoing work out of the NYC office, particularly "Home Care in New York State: The Intersection of Quality Work and Quality Care," which shares our central question about what financialized ownership does to care work and the people who do it. – with Professors Duanyi Yang and Brittany Bond