The Year Conditions Changed in Favor of Unions
Although labor contracts for 2023 indicate that things may turn in favor of organized workers after decades of organizational failure and declining influence. Six weeks of strikes against General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis led to agreements for 4½ years that will grant assembly line workers an immediate wage increase of 11% and will result in a 33% wage increase by 2028.
The United Auto Workers (UAW) forced automakers to abandon many of the multi-tier wage structures that the union had to accept in past rounds of concessions to help save the industry. The companies also preliminarily agreed to introduce new electric vehicle battery plants into the national contract, allowing the union the opportunity to organize them.
Why is There an Increase in Union Activity?
“What explains this increase in union activity and the string of labor victories and public support for unions?” asked Robert Reich, former Labor Secretary, in an article published in The Guardian on November 1. “Partly, I think it’s due to the harsh inequalities exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic,” which “distinctly revealed how easily wealthy Americans can survive compared to everyone else, and how dependent we all are on ordinary workers simply doing their jobs.”
Additionally, he also wrote that the tight labor market after the pandemic gave workers more power while income inequality and rising inflation increased their resolve.
Labor Still Faces Obstacles
Despite there being no recession, organized labor still faces significant obstacles. Most American employers remain antagonistic toward unions, and the recent gains for workers may just be “drops in the bucket of the overall U.S. labor market and may or may not be indicative of a resurgence of unions,” wrote practical economist Suresh Naidu from Columbia University last year in the Journal of Economic Perspectives.
“In the short term, much depends on politics and strains on the economy,” Naidu said in an email. “In the long term, much depends on whether workers, especially non-college-educated workers, and the labor movement can unite to overcome the extremes in American politics.”
Source: https://www.investopedia.com/organized-labor-wins-in-2023-may-spur-more-strikes-in-2024-8420606
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