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International political economy                                                       Labor studies

Collective bargaining and labor relations                                        Social movements International and comparative employment relations                      Food systems
Financialization and neoliberalism                                                  Race, gender, and capitalism 

Ph.D., Industrial and Labor Relations, Cornell University                                   December 2021

M.A., Industrial and Labor Relations, Cornell University                                         August 2019

M.A., International Economic Relations, American University                                    May 2006

B.A., Political Science and Spanish, University of Michigan                                       May 2002

EDUCATION

TEACHING AND RESEARCH INTERESTS

EMPLOYMENT

The Pennsylvania State University, School of Labor and Employment Relations, Center for Global Workers Rights

Assistant Research Professor

January 2023 to-date

Research Consultant

September-December 2022

  • Tracking impacts of reforms of national labor laws of Mexico and labor provisions of the United States Mexico Canada Agreement

  • Researching approaches to worker voice

     September 2017 – September 2021

  • Conducted research, authored, and co-authored reports on workers’ rights in global supply chains in the commercial agriculture industry, including wine and olive oil in Morocco, bananas in Guatemala, and strawberries in Mexico.

Solidarity Center AFL-CIO, June 2022-September 2022

Research Assistant

  • Designed research project, supervised team of student and worker researchers, and wrote report based on findings regarding working conditions in the tourism industry in Mexico.

Cornell University

     Global Labor Institute at the School of Industrial and Labor Relations, May-August 2022

     Research Consultant

  • Organized and co-facilitated focus group discussions and interviews on lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic for the apparel industry with trade union, labor NGO, manufacturer, manufacturers association, apparel brand, and government representatives

  • Drafted report on findings for an inclusive and sustainable future of the apparel industry

     School of Industrial and Labor Relations

     Research Assistant

  • Professor Sarosh Kuruvilla Summer 2017, Summer 2018

  • Professor Harry Katz Summer 2019, Fall 2019, Summer 2020, Spring 2021

International Labour Organization

Research Consultant

     June-September 2021

  • Researched and produced a report on collective bargaining responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States of America

     November-December 2021

  • Researched and produced a report on the relationship between collective bargaining and productivity

Sweatfree Purchasing Consortium, March – December 2019

Program Coordinator

  • Led development of a five-year strategic plan

  • Facilitated meetings of the board of directors

Cornell Farmworker Program, Cornell University March – December 2018

Research Intern

  • Provided Spanish translation and facilitated immigrant farmworker legal clinics

  • Conducted needs assessment interviews of farmworkers, managers and owners

International Labor Rights Forum, April 2012 – August 2016

Coordinator of the Cotton Campaign to End Forced Labor in the Cotton Sector

  • Lobbied governments, businesses, investors, the World Bank, International Labour Organization and United Nations agencies to use their leverage to end state-sponsored forced labor in the cotton sector, resulting in the government of Uzbekistan implementing a policy to reduce child labor and beginning an ILO program to address forced labor

  • Developed capacity-building programs that supported human rights monitoring and reporting in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, which produced the data used in advocacy

  • Facilitated meetings and strategic planning of the business association, corporate, investor, NGO, and union members of the campaign coalition

Social Accountability International, September 2006 – March 2012

Senior Manager

  • Designed, fundraised, and implemented programs to increase labor standards implementation in Central America, China and India in collaboration with local partners

  • Designed and facilitated training workshops on labor standards for managers and workers in agriculture and apparel industries, for labor inspectors in Central America, and for auditors of the SA8000 certification

  • Coordinated the international conference Human Rights at Work: The Next Decade

The Development Group for Alternative Policies, September 2005 - August 2006

Research Intern

Contributed research, report writing, and administrative support to the Structural Adjustment Participatory Review Initiative (SAPRI) and the Alliance for Responsible Trade, Hemispheric Social Alliance

Kenan Institute of Public Enterprise, June 2005 - August 2005; Washington, DC

Research Intern

Conducted research for Trade Imbalance: The Struggle to Weigh Human Rights Concerns in Trade Policymaking, by Susan Aaronson and Jamie Zimmerman

Proyecto Bibliotecas Guatemala (PROBIGUA), January 2004 – June 2004; La Antigua, Guatemala

Liaison

Facilitated relations between PROBIGUA and funder Child Aid

Casa Americana, October 2002 – September 2003; Valencia, Spain

Teacher

Created and implemented lessons to teach the English language to adults and youth

RESEARCH AND PUBLICATIONS

(* signifies equal authorship)

Book

Fischer-Daly, Matthew. 2023. International Trade, Labor Relations, and Bargaining Power: International Strawberry Commodity Networks. New York and London: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group.

​

Dissertation

  • Fischer-Daly, Matthew. “Labor Control and Resistance in the Strawberry International Commodity Networks: the Role of Human Dignity in Bargaining Power.” Dissertation, defended August 2021.

​​

Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles

  • Fischer-Daly, Matthew and Christian Zlolniski. Forthcoming. “Export agribusiness, multi-modal dispossession, and livelihood reconstitution in northern Mexico.” Mexican Studies / Estudios Mexicanos. 
    Anner, Mark, Matthew Fischer-Daly, and Cirila Quintero Ramírez. Forthcoming. “Between Labor Control and Worker Empowerment: Authoritarian Innovations and Democratic Reforms in Mexico.” Journal of Industrial Relations.

  • Fischer-Daly, Matthew. 2022. "Dignity and bargaining power: Insights from struggles in strawberries." Industrial Relations Journal, 53(3): 141-160 

  • Fischer-Daly, Matthew. 2022. “Structuring Workers' Bargaining Power in Mexico's Strawberry Fields." Global Labour Journal, 13(1): https://doi.org/10.15173/glj.v13i1.4456 

  • Fischer-Daly, Matthew. 2021. “Human Dignity and Power: Worker Struggles Against Precarity in US Agribusiness.” Labor Studies Journal, 46(4): 369– 393.

  • *Anner, Mark, Matthew Fischer-Daly and Michael Maffie. 2021. “Fissured Employment and Network Bargaining: Emerging Employment Relations Dynamics in a Contingent World of Work.” ILR Review, 74(3): 689-714.

  • Fischer-Daly, Matthew. 2019 “Impunity of International Labor Rights Violators and Beneficiaries: The Case of Uzbekistan.” World Development Perspectives.

 

Chapters in Edited Volumes

  • *Kuruvilla, Sarosh, Matthew Fischer-Daly and Christopher Raymond. 2021. “Freedom of Association and Collective Bargaining in Global Supply Chains.” In Private Regulation of Labor Standards in Global Supply Chains. Sarosh Kuruvilla. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press.

  • *Kuruvilla, Sarosh and Matthew Fischer-Daly. 2021. “Are Changes in Corporate Governance the Answer?” In Private Regulation of Labor Standards in Global Supply Chains. Sarosh Kuruvilla. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press.

  • *Katz, Harry C., Matthew Fischer-Daly, Thomas A. Kochan and Alexander J.S. Colvin. forthcoming in 2020. “Covid-19 Pandemic Labor Issues.” In An Introduction to U.S. Collective Bargaining and Labor Relations. Harry C. Katz, Thomas A. Kochan and Alexander J.S. Colvin. Ithaca: ILR an imprint of Cornell University Press.

  • *Ewart James, Joanna and Matthew Fischer-Daly. 2019. “Contemporary Social Movements to End Slavery – NGOs.” In The SAGE Handbook of Human Trafficking and Modern Day Slavery. Jennifer Bryson Clark and Sasha Poucki (Editors). London: SAGE Publications.

  • *Fischer-Daly, Matthew and Ana Paula de la O Campos. 2005. “Peasant and Indigenous Communities in the Amazon.” In Sister Dorothy Stang: Struggling for Sustainable Development in the Brazilian Amazon, Brigitte Bürgler, Jocelyn Farrington, Emily Hillenbrand, and Jacob Laden (editors). Washington, DC: School of International Service, American University.

 

Book Reviews

  • Fischer-Daly, Matthew. 2018. “Informal Workers and Collective Action: A Global Perspective,” by Adrienne E. Eaton, Susan J. Schurman, & Martha A. Chen. Comparative Labor Law & Policy Journal.

  • Fischer-Daly, Matthew. 2017. “Achieving Workers’ Rights in the Global Economy,” by Richard P. Applebaum and Nelson Lichtenstein (editors). ILR Review.

 

Published Reports

  • *Anner, Mark and Matthew Fischer-Daly, with case study contributions from Sifat Amita, Katherine Maich, Samuel Okyere, and Ye Yint. (2024). “Worker Voice: What it is, what it is not, and why it matters.” Center for Global Workers’ Rights, Pennsylvania State University for the Bureau of International Labor Affairs, United States Department of Labor.

  • *Fischer-Daly, Matthew and Mark Anner. (2023). “Worker Voice: A Literature Review.” Center for Global Workers’ Rights, Pennsylvania State University for the Bureau of International Labor Affairs, United States Department of Labor.

  • *Fischer-Daly, Matthew M., Jason Judd, and Sarosh Kuruvilla. 2022. “Learning from Crisis: Apparel Industry Experts on Mitigating the COVID-19 Pandemic and Future Crises. Geneva: International Labour Office and Ithaca: Cornell University ILR School Global Labor Institute.

  • *Fischer-Daly, Matthew and Mark Anner. 2021. "Fighting for Work With Dignity in the Fields: Agriculture Global Supply Chains in Morocco, Colombia, Guatemala, and Mexico." Solidarity Center and Center for Global Workers' Rights, Pennsylvania State University. 

  • Fischer-Daly, Matthew. 2021. "Strawberry Global Supply Chains in Mexico." Solidarity Center and Center for Global Workers' Rights, Pennsylvania State University.  

  • *Fischer-Daly, Matthew and Glenn Perusek. 2018. "The Power of Workers in Global Agriculture Supply Chains: Collective Bargaining between Confederación Democratique du Travail and Les Domaines Brahim Zniber-Diana Holding Group, Morocco." Solidarity Center and Center for Global Workers’ Rights, Pennsylvania State University.

  • *Campbell, Brian and Matthew Fischer-Daly. 2014. "The System of Forced Labor Cotton Production in Uzbekistan." International Labor Rights Forum.

  • Muradov, Bakhodyr, Alisher Ilkhamov, Matthew Fischer-Daly and Jeff Goldstein. 2014. "Uzbekistan’s Cotton Sector: Financial Flows and Distribution of Resources." Open Society Foundations.

  • *Fischer-Daly, Matthew and Umida Niyazova. 2012. "A Systemic Problem: State-Sponsored Forced Labour in Uzbekistan’s Cotton Sector Continues in 2012." The Cotton Campaign and Uzbek-German Forum for Human Rights.

  • Fischer-Daly, Matthew. 2011. "Final Technical Progress Report: Project Cultivar – Advancing Labor Rights in Agriculture in the Dominican Republic, Honduras and Nicaragua." Social Accountability International.

SELECTED CONFERENCE PAPERS AND

INVITED PRESENTATIONS

  • 2023: Book Presentation. “International Commodity Networks.” Labor and Employment Relations Association 75th Annual Meeting, June.

  • 2022: Paper Presentation. “Dignity & Bargaining Power: Insights from Struggles in Strawberries.” Labor and Employment Relations Association 74th Annual Meeting, June.

  • 2021: Paper Presentation. “Labor Control and Resistance in Strawberry International Commodity Networks: The Role of Human Dignity in Bargaining Power.” 19th International Labor and Employment Relations Association World Conference, June.

  • 2020: Paper Presentation. “Commodity Chains as Labor Control Systems: The case of strawberry production in the San Quintin Valley of Mexico.” Labor and Employment Relations Association 72nd Annual Meeting, June

  • 2020: Paper Presentation. “Commodity Chains as Labor Control Systems: The case of strawberry production in the San Quintin Valley of Mexico.” International Labor and Employment Relations Association Regional Congress of the Americas, June

  • 2019: Paper Presentation. “Fissured Employment Relations and Networked Solidarity: Emerging Patterns of Bargaining in an Increasingly Contingent World of Work.” Labor and Employment Relations Association 71st Annual Meeting, June.

  • 2018: Paper Presentation. “Current Collective Bargaining in Agriculture Supply Chains.” Labor and Employment Relations Association 70th Annual Meeting, June.

  • 2017: Invited talk. “Workers’ Rights & Health & Safety in Banana, Sugar & Cotton Agribusiness.” Worker Health and Precarious Work in Global Supply Chains, Spring Symposium, Center for Global Workers’ Rights, School of Labor and Employment Relations, Pennsylvania State University, March.

  • 2016: Guest lecture. “Uzbekistan: Migration, Politics and Human Rights.” Industrial and Labor Relations School, Cornell University.

  • 2015: Guest Lecture. “International Labor Rights Institutions and Ending Forced Labor in the Cotton Industry.” Industrial and Labor Relations School, Cornell University.

  • 2012: Invited webinar. “Implementing Living Wages in Global Supply Chains.” International Society of Sustainability Professionals, January.

  • 2009: Invited talk. “Organizing for Gender Equity at Work and Society.” 11th Women’s Colloquium of the Movement of Working and Unemployed Women María Elena Cuadra, Managua, Nicaragua.

  • Seidman Prize for labor relations research, ILR School, Cornell University                        2021

  • International Travel Research Grant, Einaudi Center, Cornell University                            2020

  • Michele Sicca Research Grant, Einaudi Center European Programs, Cornell University    2020

  • Benjamin Miller Scholarship, ILR School, Cornell University                                            2019   

  • ILR Theme Grant on Inequality and Work, ILR School, Cornell University                       2019

  • ILR Travel Grant, ILR International Programs, Cornell University                                     2019

AWARDS & GRANTS

SKILLS

  • Spanish fluency

  • Statistics proficiency in Stata

  • Advanced certification in labor standards auditing by Social Accountability International

SERVICE AND AFFILIATIONS

  • Reviewer, ILR Review, Labor Studies Journal, and Mexican Studies/Estudios Mexicanos

  • Member, Labor and Employment Relations Association, since 2017

  • Board Member, BioScience Resource Project, since 2017

  • Board Member, Sweatfree Purchasing Consortium, since 2023

  • Coordinating Committee, Doctoral Student Consortium, Interuniversity Research Centre on Globalization and Work / Centre de recherche interuniversitaire sur la mondialisation et le travail, 2018-2019

  • Member, Workers Rights Advisory Committee, Fair Trade International, 2013-2016

REFERENCES

Available upon request​

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