The gloves are off. This may be the year of the union revival. (Membership had been languishing at 6% of private employment in 2022.) As of 31 October, there were 354 strikes involving some 492000 employees. {That’s 8X the number for 2021and 4X those found in 2022.)
The worker actions included airline pilots, nurses, UPS drivers, Las Vega casino workers, UAW and more. Even Starbucks has finally announced they will negotiate with those folks starting unions. (The NLRB [National Labor Relations Board] has cited them for shutting down more than 2 dozen stores to avoid unionization!)
The changes in workers lives have been dramatic. The casino workers in Las Vegas didn’t strike, but were awarded notice provisions and training for new technology, which was their goal- 3 hours before their strike was to begin. Then, there’s the Screen Actors Guild. The 140K workers union headed by Fran Descher got major wage increases and control over any AI versions of themselves to be developed. The Hollywood writers (who settled before the actors) managed to kill the TV sessions with their 148 day long strike. These folks got some 3.5 to 5% gains in pay and won’t be starved out by AI choices.
Some 75K nurses and doctors struck Kaiser Permanente- which was the largest healthcare strike in the US. They earned a 21% increase in pay- and more staffing in the units, which has been a substantial issue.
The airline pilots also managed a major change-without a strike. The 3 big airline’s (United, American, and Delta) pilots got pay increases of 34 to 40%. Another big winner this year- UPS drivers. They finally get air conditioning in their vehicles and an adjustment to their pay scales. This makes them the highest paid delivery workers in the USA. (Note- by the end of their contract these folks can be earning some $ 170K a year in pay and benefits!). We’ve already discussed (in a series of blogs) how well the UAW did with the Big 3 auto manufacturers. And that effort has now led them in efforts to expand their membership to the rest of the auto industry.
We also discussed how the UAW targeting various plants in their unionization drive. The Tennessee effort already surpassed the requisite 300 union members (1000 have already signed) in the startup. But VW is not playing fair- nor is Honda in Indiana (2800 signed up in Marysville), nor Hyundai in Alabama.
Honda demanded workers in Greensburg, Indiana remove union stickers from their hard hats or be written up. Hyundai in Montgomery (AL) destroyed union paraphernalia and prohibited certain activities. And, VW in Chattanooga (TN) has refused to deal with the nascent union. This plant has 1000 sign-ups- more than the required 30% minimum to start unionization activity.
All of these events have been turned over to the National Labor Relations Board to adjudicate the issues.
