From trade unionists to “industrial relations professionals”? ; Des syndicalistes aux « professionnels des relations professionnelles » ? Les premiers temps de l’école de relations industrielles de Cornell

International audience ; The New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations (ILR School) was created in 1944 within Cornell University with the aim of fostering cooperation between employers and employees. Its mission was to train “industrial relations professionals” by providing specialized abstract knowledge, deemed neutral and shared by the different parties. the article describes the genesis and institutionalization of this project during the first thirty years of the school’s existence. It analyzes it, according to the theoretical vocabulary of linked ecologies, as a “pivotal issue” that is forged in the field of power but takes shape at the intersection of the political, union and academic fields. torn between the logics of recognition specific to the university and the mistrust, if not the hostility, of the actors of professional relations, the school contributes less to the professionalization of trade unionists than to that of trainers. Moreover, not all the trainers assumed the identity of experts in industrial relations: within the ILR School a new territory emerged, claimed by its occupants as that of labor studies, which intended to distinguish itself both from industrial relations and from a purely instrumental conception of trade union training. Initially supported by the anti-communist bangs of the trade union movement, the school thus offered a material basis to actors, including some communists, who had a critical view of trade unionism and industrial relations. ; La New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations (ILR School) est créée en 1944 au sein de l’université Cornell dans le but de favoriser la coopération entre employeurs et salariés. Elle se donne pour mission de former des « professionnels des relations professionnelles » en délivrant un savoir abstrait spécialisé, réputé neutre et partagé entre les différentes parties. L’article décrit la genèse et l’institutionnalisation de ce projet au cours des trente premières années d’existence de l’école. Il l’analyse, selon ...