LABOR POWER & STRATEGY

MINI-FELLOWSHIP

APPLICATIONS CLOSED

The Labor Power & Strategy mini-fellowship is designed for labor leaders and organizers, including worker centers, looking to build power and capacity now in service of long-term strategy. Using the call for a May 1, 2028 national strike, and the examples of aligning contracts for power in Minneapolis and Connecticut, we will examine what it takes to build alignment between unions and social movement organizations around shared demands, fighting common targets, and building collective power. The course will use the textbook Practical Radicals: Seven Strategies to Change the World to study six sources of power that employers and ruling elites use to maintain the status quo, and that workers and unions can use to fight for justice. We will study seven lineages of social change strategies to see what other traditions might contribute to labor movement strategy. We will introduce a wide variety of tools to develop strategy from many disciplines, traditions and sectors inside and outside social change. 

Overview

Program Details

  • Academic coursework: All participants will  take the course “Power and Strategy,” taught by faculty at the School of Labor and Urban Studies (SLU) at CUNY. The course is focused on strategy fundamentals and is based on the book Practical Radicals by Deepak Bhargava and Stephanie Luce. “Power and Strategy” will run the length of the semester, from August 26, 2025 through December 22, 2025.

  • Immersive Strategy retreat: Participants are expected to attend one week-long residential strategy retreat for in-person learning. The retreat will be held (location TBA) on October 20, 2025 through October 24, 2025.

  • Strategy coaching and mentorship: Each participant or team will be provided with an experienced Labor and campaign strategy coach with whom they will meet for five to seven hour long coaching sessions after the completing of the course.  

Meet the Instructors

Stephanie Luce

Stephanie Luce is Professor of Labor Studies at the School of Labor and Urban Studies, and Professor of Sociology at the Graduate Center, City University of New York (CUNY). She received her BA in economics at the University of California, Davis and both her PhD in sociology and her MA in industrial relations from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Best known for her research on living wage campaigns and movements, she is the author of Fighting for a Living Wage, and co-author of The Living Wage: Building a Fair Economy, and The Measure of Fairness. She is also author of Labor Movements: Global Perspectives. Her latest book, co-authored with Deepak Bhargava, is Practical Radicals: Seven Strategies to Change the World.

Puya Gerami

Puya Gerami is Distinguished Lecturer at the CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies. Born and raised in Connecticut, he started out in the labor movement as an organizer at SEIU 1199 New England and later served as education director for the local. Most recently, he served as founding director of a new statewide progressive coalition called Connecticut For All. He is receiving his PhD in the history department at Yale, with a dissertation entitled “How the State(s) Became the Battlefield: State Employee Unionism, Privatization, and the Struggle to Shape the Public Sector.”  

Priority Application Deadline:  

June 26, 2025

Final Application Deadline: 

July 13, 2025

Eligibility 

We encourage potential students to apply in teams of 2 to 4 people from their Local or organization. At least one person should be someone with decision-making authority, or able to move a campaign/strategy plan within the union. Individual applicants will be considered but those who come in teams will receive preference in admissions.

Students do not need to commit to participating in 2028 strikes but should be ready to advance a long-term strategic plan in their union.

We require an organizational letter of support that confirms the union or organization is able to give time and space for students to attend class and complete assignments.

Cost

We ask employers or host organizations to make a contribution on a sliding scale. Contributions are suggested – not mandatory – and do not carry weight in the application or interview process. We have robust scholarships available to all applicants.

  • Organizations with an annual budget of $5+ million = $2,000 suggested amount per participant

  • Organizations with an annual budget between $2-5 million = $1,000 suggested amount per participant

  • Organizations with an annual budget less than a $2 million = $500 suggested amount per participant