ILR School Extension Division Metropolitan District Office (New York, N.Y.), Jeffrey Grabelski Memorabilia

Jeffrey Grabelsky is the Associate Director of The Worker Institute at Cornell. He develops and delivers education and training programs and provides research and technical assistance in all aspects of union affairs. He began his career in the labor movement working and organizing in the steel industry in 1973, has been a member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) for thirty years, and is the former national organizing director of the Building and Construction Trades Department (AFL-CIO).

After September 11, 2001, Professor Grabelsky represented the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York on the World Trade Center Emergency Project Labor-Management Partnership.

Professor Grabelsky is currently co-coordinating the Construction Career Opportunities Project, a joint initiative involving Cornell University, the Partnership for Working Families, and the Building and Construction Trades Department. He is also representing the Building and Construction Trades Department on the Emerald Cities Initiative as a Special Assistant to President Mark Ayers.

Professor Grabelsky also co-authored the trainer's manuals for the UBCJA and IBEW national steward training programs, COMET (Construction Organizing Membership Education Training), COMET II (Worksite Organizing with COMET Activists), MEMO (Membership Education and Mobilization for Organizing), and the AFL-CIO Voice at Work Membership Mobilization Programs.

Professor Grabelsky received his B.A. in Political Science from the University of Michigan, his M.A. in U.S. Labor History from Syracuse University, his M.S. in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University, and his Journeyman Electrician Classification from the IBEW.

The New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations (ILR) is one of the many schools and colleges that make up Cornell University. Unlike most of Cornell's schools, however the ILR was created by the state legislature in 1945 and is part of the SUNY (State University of New York) system. One of the functions of the ILR School is extension (continuing adult education) and public service. Funding for these activities, comes from state support, modest charges to participants, and grants and contracts. The School's Division of Extension and Public Service is administered through a headquarters staff in Ithaca and offices in Albany, Buffalo, Long Island, New York City, Rochester, and Westchester. The Metropolitan District Office, which serves the five counties that make up New York City as well as Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester, and Rockland counties, focuses on programs and services for trade unions and other employee organizations, workers, community groups, and government agencies.