ILR Joins Project to Help Disabled People Find Employment

The School of Industrial and Labor Relations’ Employment and Disability Institute is collaborating on the project “New York Makes Work Pay,” which plans to make finding employment easier for disabled people. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Service’s Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services is sponsoring the initiative. Collaborators with the EDI include New York State Most Integrated Settings Coordinating Council’s Employment Committee, the New York State Office of Mental Health and Syracuse University’s Burton Blatt Institute, according to the Cornell Chronicle.

Groups Decry Wage Theft

Last week’s news of the local labor law violations at Ithaca’s Taste of Thai and Tamarind restaurants has generated strong responses from the Cornell community.
Cornell Organization for Labor Action, a student organization that promotes economic justice, expressed gratitude that the Department of Labor, in conjunction with the Tompkins County Worker’s Center, uncovered that 36 workers were cumulatively being underpaid $28,388.
“COLA is glad the Tompkins County Worker’s Center was able to assist the workers in securing all of the wages and tips they earned, as well as being treated fairly and given one day off per week, to comply with New York State law,” COLA collectively stated in an e-mail.

Jay Walker ’77 Named Entrepreneur of the Year

Jay Walker ’77 has been given another title to go along with the many others he has earned throughout his career since graduating from the College of Industrial and Labor Relations. Walker was named the 2009 Cornell Entrepreneur of the Year. He will give an address on campus on April 16 during the Entrepreneur-ship@Cornell Celebration, according to the University.
In addition to recognizing entrepreneurial success, the title of Cornell Entrepreneur of the Year goes to the individual who best illustrates a dedication to community service and high ethical standards.

State Cuts Force Colleges to Adapt

New York governor David Paterson (D-N.Y.) has imposed a mid-year budget cut that decreased the state funding to Cornell’s four statutory colleges (Human Ecology, Veterinary Medicine, Agriculture and Life Sciences and the Industrial and Labor Relations) from over $159 to $153 million, according to Ron Seeber, vice provost for land grant affairs. This decrease represents a loss of between 6 and 7 percent of their previous state funding for each of the four colleges.
While the $6 million worth of cuts have already been enacted, a further $2.5 million cut is currently being debated for the 09-10 year, and it will not be voted on by the legislature until the budget is approved at the end of March or early April.