Looking back, looking ahead - organized labor had gains in 2023

In many ways, 2023 was a great year for labor.

 

There were almost 400 strikes in 2023, according to Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations “Labor Action Tracker,” and the federal Bureau of Labor Relations found that work stoppages involving at least 1,000 workers was the most in 10 years, In 2023, more than 500,000 U.S. workers hit the bricks, reported Bloomberg Law, which also said unionized workers’ wage hikes in 2023 averaged 7% – the most in 16 years.

 

 “Meanwhile, non-union employers feel pressure to raise wages to stop their workers from organizing, when for years declining union density put downward pressure on wages,” commented Kate Bronfenbrenner, director of labor education research at Cornell. Also, “the groundswell of public support for unions also has strengthened labors’ hand in local and state labor policy issues.”

 

Labor increased union members by about 300,000 last year, but the total is still just 10.1% of U.S. workers. Nevertheless, a resurgence has happened before. In the 1930s, the percentage of the work force that was unionized grew from 13% to 27% in two years.

 

Unions are still buzzing about a few huge victories:

 

* Kaiser Permanente health-care workers struck for three days and ended up achieving a 6% raise and improved staffing.

* SAG/AFTRA took on the movie industry – along with the Writers Guild – and arguably won its 118-day strike.

* The Teamsters merely threatened to walk out at UPS and won a new contract that made up for years of concessions.

* The United Auto Workers stood up to the Big 3 in an innovative 46-day strike and reached an historic settlement.

 

The big strikes were against powerful corporations, too – impressive successes built in part on ambitious internal organizing and an increased transparency for the rank and file. It was no coincidence that the major work stoppages were by unions benefiting from new leadership – and new, more militant attitudes – by Fran Drescher (Screen Actors Guild), Sean O’Brien (Teamsters) and Shawn Fain (UAW).

 

“This year alone, 900,000 unionized workers won double-digit wage increases through new contracts. In an era of so much financial uncertainty, union-negotiated contracts are putting money in workers’ wallets that will allow them to pay bills in full, put food on their tables and fuel local economies,” said AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler. “Across the country, we’re seeing the highest level of popular support for unions – especially from young workers – in decades.”

 

Indeed, 67% of Americans approved of union, according to Gallup.

 

Further, President Biden became the first U.S. president to be at a strike’s picket line when he stood with Fain at a UAW rally in Belleville, Mich., and other improvements ranged from African American workers in the South starting to revive organizing in the region, and labor helping to open up the historically anti-union tech sector, and robust unionizing campaigns at many college campuses.

 

Unfortunately, with gains were losses – of key labor leaders and allies, including Illinois leader Ed Smith from Laborers Local 773, Steelworkers President Tom Conway, domestic-workers advocate Myrtle Witbooi, past AFL-CIO President Thomas Donahue, longtime arbitrator Donald Wasserman, AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust CEO Stephen Coyle, Florida AFL-CIO leader Mike Williams, and union activist and writer Jane LaTour.

 

For 2024, the UAW – busy with a continental campaign to organize non-union auto workers and already collecting signature cards at VW in Chattanooga, Tenn., and Rivian in Normal, Ill. – is going to be at or near labor’s vanguard, and it seems promising to see regular working people increasingly engage and energize.

 

Ahead: The Teamsters already have authorized a strike at Anheuser-Busch (their current pact expires next month); the UFCW will take on the Meijer grocery chain (expiration also in February); the UAW at Daimler Trucks (April), CWA at AT&T (also in April on the West Coast, and in the Southeast in August); the Post Office’s Rural Carriers (May) and the APWU (September); 170,000 Theatrical Employees bargaining two national contracts (in May and July); teachers preparing for tough negotiations (June in Chicago and August in Philadelphia); International Longshoremen on the East Coast (September); Machinists at Boeing (September); and Flight Attendants’ unions at different airlines (already working without a contract).

 

“As we know, the power of a membership card goes beyond just a higher paycheck,” Shuler added. “Whether it was watching the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA establish critical contract language around artificial intelligence; United Auto Workers of America’s fight to ensure the future of electric vehicles is union strong; UNITE HERE’s precedent-setting victories in the hospitality industry as we bounce back from the COVID tourism slump; National Nurses United’s (NNU’s) unrelenting advocacy for safe staffing ratios or countless other groundbreaking campaigns, we saw workers join together to demand a fairer, more-democratic economy and future for us all.”

 

It could be another great year.