American federalism is often touted as a source of local democratic engagement, political innovation, and responsive public policy. But in practice, it has served as a laboratory of autocracy and inequality.

Federalism Is a Disaster for the Working Class

American federalism is often touted as a source of local democratic engagement, political innovation, and responsive public policy. But in practice, it has served as a laboratory of autocracy and inequality.

jacobin.com

Biodiversity looks different everywhere, and people on iNaturalist are documenting what they notice! Here's a small glimpse at what's been shared in the International Day for Biodiversity 2026 project so far ... 🧵⤵️ #IDB2026 #BiodiversityDay #LocalAction #ForNature @UNBiodiversity

New article in RSF! How much progress has been made on single-mother poverty since welfare reform? Sarah K. Bruch, @janetgornick.bsky.social, and I document both real improvements and enduring racial disparities. www.rsfjournal.org/content/12/1...

Poverty Disparities and the Reconfiguration of Social Provisioning: White, Black, and Latino Single-Mother Families, 1996–2018

Changes in US social provisioning from 1996 to 2018 profoundly affected the well-being of single-mother families, with notable consequences for racial inequalities in poverty alleviation. Using an ins...

rsfjournal.org

It's been nearly two weeks since we lost Bill Herbert (@highered-cb.bsky.social) and my shock has yet to really fade. The magnitude of Bill's impact on my professional development is difficult to capture. Properly eulogizing Bill here is impossible, but I wanted to share some stories nevertheless.

Hunter Labor Expert William A. Herbert, 70 | Hunter College

William A. Herbert died unexpectedly of natural causes on April 19 at his home in Delmar, New York. He was 70.

hunter.cuny.edu

Excellent new report co-authored by William Herbert (@highered-cb.bsky.social) on academic freedom in union contracts. Check it out!

AAUP@aaup.org · 5mo ago

Check out this new report published today providing the first in-depth, industry-wide examination of how #academicfreedom has been written into collective bargaining agreements across American higher ed. 👀 This report is useful for anyone hoping to collectively bargain meaningful AF protections.

This Day in Labor History: March 18, 1970. Postal workers around the nation went on strike. This was illegal but the workers won and forced the Nixon administration to give in. This ushered in a decade of militant public sector organizing that ended when Reagan fired the air traffic controllers!

The central constraint on public-sector performance is not the power of unions—it is chronic underinvestment. @hshierholz.bsky.social + @joshbivens-econ.bsky.social: If we want a high-functioning public sector, we need to pay for it. There is no shortcut.

You can’t starve the public sector to excellence

Most people understand a basic truth: you get what you pay for. Skip maintenance on your roof, and you shouldn’t be surprised when leaks appear. The same is true of government. If we want a high-funct...

epi.org

For the Scontras Center for Labor and Community Education, Kevin Van Meter (@americanwork47.bsky.social) and I wrote a report on the state of organized labor in Maine. Here are some of our findings 👇

Really interesting citizen social science project by Benjamin Y. Fong at @ArizonaState. Send him photos of your Amazon Package Labels! open.substack.com/pub/onthesea...

Send Me Photos of Your Amazon Package Labels!

An attempt to crowdsource an understanding of the company's outbound network

open.substack.com

Have collective bargaining data a click away by registering and contributing for our Contract Research Site: webforms.hunter.cuny.edu/ncscbhep/vie... Access begins on October 1 for registrants to this contribution-based platform.

Excited this database is seeing the light of day! The National Center's contract research site is going to be a game changer for anyone involved in academic collective bargaining.

National Center for Study of Collective Bargaining in Higher Ed@highered-cb.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Announcing a new contract research site an annual contribution-based platform with a search engine to research hundreds of higher ed contracts. This unique site will be valuable to negotiators, union representatives, administrators, and law firms. Register and contribute today! conta.cc/4lMDfN2

The @cunyslu.bsky.social State of the Unions 2025 is out! The report documents how citizenship status and sector of employment help shape unionization rates among immigrants. Read the full report here: bit.ly/CUNYSLUstateofunions

The Trump Admin’s scapegoating of immigrants, cruel policy of mass deportation, & attacks on union rights are pages from the same authoritarian playbook…NY is a city of immigrants & a union town. We can fight fascism w/strong unions & active solidarity. thechiefleader.com/stories/immi...

In New York City, immigrants more likely to be unionized, report finds - The Chief

Foreign born workers in New York City are more likely to be union members than workers born in the United States, according to a report published in August by CUNY scholars Ruth Milkman and Joseph van...

thechiefleader.com

A report by the CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies shows that immigrant workers represented a majority of New York City union members.

Immigrant Labor is the Backbone of New York City Unions, New Report Shows - Documented

A report by the CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies shows that immigrant workers represented a majority of New York City union members.

documentedny.com

America now has more unemployed people than job openings for the first time since April 2021.

On Labor Day, Ruth Milkman and I released the 2025 @cunyslu.bsky.social State of the Unions report. Here's a few highlights from our findings: (🧵) slu.cuny.edu/2025/08/25/t...

AFSCME District Council 33 represents the blue-collar city workers who make Philadelphia run. After sacrificing through the pandemic and years of bruising inflation, they say they're on strike so they can afford to live in the city they serve.

Philadelphia’s Blue-Collar Municipal Workforce Is on Strike

AFSCME District Council 33 represents the blue-collar city workers who make Philadelphia run. After sacrificing through the pandemic and years of bruising inflation, they say they’re on strike so they can afford to live in the city they serve.

jacobin.com

Brilliant op ed by my CUNY colleague Ángeles Donoso Macaya on the need for sanctuary campuses

NYPD Assault on CUNY Gaza Encampment Shows Why We Need Sanctuary Universities

My lived experience of Chile under Pinochet’s dictatorship drives my opposition to the current US crackdown on dissent.

truthout.org

@aaronsojourner.org and Adam Reich @epi.org: Americans favor labor unions over big business now more than ever www.epi.org/blog/america...

Americans favor labor unions over big business now more than ever

This piece was also published on Medium. For decades, Americans were evenly divided in their relative support of labor unions and big business, but that’s no longer the case. Now, Americans are more l...

epi.org

Elite institutions of higher education tend to grab most headlines. But non-elite public colleges have dealt with relentless austerity for decades — which is why Illinois State University faculty just voted to authorize a strike.

Illinois State University Is Facing a Potential Faculty Strike

Elite institutions of higher education tend to grab most headlines. But non-elite public colleges have dealt with relentless austerity for decades — which is why Illinois State University faculty just...

jacobin.com

William Herbert, Jacob Apkarian of the @highered-cb.bsky.social and I have an article in this volume the Journal that documents new unionization of faculty, graduate and undergraduate workers, and post-docs over the last year. Check it out! thekeep.eiu.edu/jcba/vol16/i...

National Center for Study of Collective Bargaining in Higher Ed@highered-cb.bsky.social · last yr.

We are pleased to announce publication of Volume 16 of the Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy, our peer-reviewed periodical advancing research and scholarly thought related to collective bargaining and other issues in higher ed. Links to articles are available here: conta.cc/422rNVr

Trump's #DOGE initiative accelerates a 50-year trend of government privatization. Government contracting reached $1.98 trillion in 2023, 7% of the total economy. Nathan Meyers @umassamherst.bsky.social #economics #ElonMusk

Trump’s DOGE campaign accelerates 50-year trend of government privatization

The president’s executive orders are part of a decades-long trend of shrinking government’s role while expanding private sector control over public services.

buff.ly

The Labor Action Tracker Annual Report is out now! Join @mrsethharris.bsky.social & project director, Johnnie Kallas, to discuss the key statistics showing trends & data behind 2024's collective action and strikes! Watch @poweratwork.bsky.social's blogcast at poweratwork.us/labor-action...!

📢 Federal workers keep our nation running! On Feb 19, join the #SaveOurServices Day of Action: ✅ Take a photo showing how your work benefits the public — or, if you're a community member, how you benefit from federal services 📸 ✅ Post with #SaveOurServices ✅ Wear red, white &/or blue 🇺🇸

I only recently met Michael for the first time at the 2024 ASA meeting after more than a decade of admiring his scholarship and activism. In addition to being an incredible thinker, he was an extremely down-to-earth and kind person. We couldn't have lost him at a worse time. Rest in Power!

American Sociological Association@asanews.bsky.social · last yr.

ASA mourns the sudden loss of former President Michael Burawoy, who died tragically in Oakland, CA, on February 3. Burawoy received the ASA Distinguished Contributions to Teaching Award and W.E.B. Du Bois Career of Distinguished Scholarship Award. His will be greatly missed.