ITHACA, N.Y. -- "Labor and Election-Year Politics" is the title and theme of this year's Union Days at Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations (ILR), April 13-16. Most events are free and open to the public.

"The annual Union Days program is designed to raise awareness among students and others about the struggles of working people to better their lives and their communities," said Jefferson Cowie, assistant professor of collective bargaining, labor law and labor history at the ILR School and the event's organizer. "This year the focus will be on the central role that labor plays in electoral politics, making the week's events of interest to anyone concerned with justice in the workplace or the fate of the 2004 presidential elections."

Hard-hitting political humorist and populist Jim Hightower leads off Union Days on Tuesday, April 13, at 7:30 p.m. in Statler Auditorium. Free advance tickets to his performance are available at the Willard Straight Hall ticket office.

A national radio commentator, columnist, public speaker and political spark plug, Hightower has been called "America's most popular populist" and calls himself an advocate for the "powers that oughta be"-- consumers, working families, environmentalists, small businesses and "just plain folks." He is the author of Thieves In High Places: They've Stolen Our Country and It's Time to Take It Back (Viking). His political newsletter, "The Hightower Lowdown," was named best national newsletter by the Alternative Press and the Independent Press Association. His newspaper column is in more than 75 independent publications, and he writes a monthly column for The Nation. His nationwide "Rolling Thunder Down-Home Democracy Tour," which resembles a county fair and aims to revitalize grassroots progressive politics, will travel to 10 cities this year.

The Union Days keynote address Wednesday, April 14, is by John Wilhelm, president of Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union (HERE), from 1 to 2:30 p.m. in 305 Ives Hall. Wilhelm, a key U.S. union leader, began his career as an organizer with HERE in New Haven, Conn., in 1969, two years after graduating with high honors from Yale University. He has since negotiated many solid collective bargaining agreements on behalf of HERE members and has led citywide hotel industry negotiations in San Francisco, Boston, Los Angeles and Las Vegas, as well as negotiations for the non-faculty employees of Yale. Known for his creative organizing strategies, he involves rank-and-file members and reaches out to workers across ethnic and language barriers. As chair of the AFL-CIO's immigration committee, he helped develop a new policy calling for the legalization of immigrant workers in the United States, whistleblower protection for immigrants who assert their workplace rights and expanded training for immigrants and other workers.

Other Unions Days events include:

o "Labor and Politics in 2004," panel discussion, Thursday, April 15, 3-5 p.m., Doherty Lounge, 280 Ives Hall, with Adolph Reed, professor of political science, New School University, and Labor Party activist, Rick Perlstein, national political reporter, Village Voice, and Bob Muehlenkamp, senior labor adviser, Howard Dean campaign;

o Social Justice Career Fair for interested students, Friday, April 16, 10 a.m.-1 p.m., Ives Hall lobbies, followed by a reception and discussion with ILR alumni in the labor movement, 1:30-3 p.m., Doherty Lounge, 280 Ives Hall.

In conjunction with Union Days, Cornell Cinema will screen "Valley of Tears" Friday, April 16, at 7 p.m. in Willard Straight Theatre. The film looks at Mexican Americans in Raymondville, Texas, as union farm workers hopeful of victory during a strike for a living wage in 1979, and during social struggles in the 1990s, when the region is no longer thriving. The film will be introduced by Raymond Craib, Cornell assistant professor of history. Tickets are $6 general/$5 students and seniors/$4 Cornell graduate students.