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All across the US this year labor unions have been calling for big changes in many different industries, including the aviation industry, auto industry, the healthcare industry, entertainment industry, and schools. Unions have been demanding more from their employers and have pressured corporations to increase pay packages in union contracts. The results of these recent and ongoing strikes have been impressive and have ended with very generous new contracts compared to those in the past. This year alone, about 15,000 American Airlines pilots won “pay increases of 46% over four years” (Greenhouse, 2023). Furthermore, 340,000 workers at UPS won raises up to “$7.50 an hour over five years, with drivers’ pay climbing to $49 an hour and part-time workers receiving a pay increase of 48% on average” (Greenhouse, 2023). On the healthcare front, 1,400 nurses in Oregon won wage increases “between 17% and 27% over two years” and with an additional 85,000 Kaiser Permanente workers won raises of “21%, as well as a $25 minimum wage for Kaiser’s workers in California” (Greenhouse, 2023). Another win in for union workers in California includes LA school district workers such as teachers, teacher’s aides, bus drivers, and cafeteria workers won a “30% wage hike over four years” (Greenhouse, 2023).

The results of these labor unions are not only historic, but as industrial relations professor Thomas Kochan puts it, the recent strikes “reflects a reset in expectations and wage norms for workers and for employers” (Greenhouse, 2023). More importantly, Kochan further claims that corporations “haven’t experienced this level of pressure from unions and they haven’t experienced this amount of bargaining power on the side of workers” (Greenhouse, 2023). The success of these contracts has signaled to employers that times have changed, the wages were not adequate for workers especially as inflation has increased. Feelings of frustration and anger were also on the rise amongst workers after seeing the increasing profits of the companies they worked for and the rising pay of CEOs while their wages stagnated in the midst of mounting inflation. This is especially true for the United Auto Workers who kept pointing to the fact that “auto workers’ hourly pay has trailed inflation by 19% since 2008, while CEO pay has jumped by 40%” (Greenhouse, 2023). 

Although thousands of workers across many diverse industries have achieved great victories, workers in the auto industry, entertainment industry, and those working at newly unionized companies (i.e., Amazon, Starbuck’s, and Trader Joe’s) are still struggling to reach any negotiations for improved pay and benefits. However, Director of the Labor Center and UCLA Professor Kent Wong is optimistic that more unions will get their demands met. He mentions several factors including a very strong public approval for unions and a US president who calls himself “the most pro-union president ever” (Greenhouse, 2023). Both of these components combined with previous union victories will help to build on other union victories.

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/oct/24/us-unions-successes-contracts