Boeing assembly workers near Seattle and in other locations have voted to conclude a seven-week strike, with 59% of participating members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) approving the fourth formal offer from the company, marking the third proposal put forth for a vote.
In recent years, organized labor has made significant moves to assert its power, with a dramatic rise in union activities. According to data from Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations, there were 470 work stoppages last year, which included both strikes and lockouts, affecting around 539,000 workers. These actions resulted in nearly 25 million strike days.
Although the increase in the number of work stoppages from 2022 to 2023 was modest—only 9%—the number of workers involved surged by 141%, totaling over half a million participants. Unions, such as the United Auto Workers (UAW) and the Teamsters, have expressed that while they made concessions during the pandemic and other economic challenges, it’s now time for corporations, which have been reporting substantial profits consistently, to provide fair compensation to their workers.
Examining recent confrontations between workers and corporate entities provides insight into the labor movement’s momentum.
The United Auto Workers union achieved a significant win late last year by ratifying new contracts with companies like Ford, Stellantis, and General Motors. These contracts are expected to uplift wages industry-wide and require automakers to absorb increased operational costs. The contracts, effective until April 2028, were the result of heated negotiations initiated in the summer of 2022, which included prolonged strikes at all three automakers for a duration of six weeks. The new contracts promise substantial pay hikes for assembly plant workers, with some likely to receive immediate raises of 11%, leading to a projected hourly wage of around $42 by the end of the term.
In another sector, UPS workers who are part of the Teamsters union reached a tentative agreement with the company last year after protracted negotiations that threatened to halt package deliveries nationwide. The deal reached just before an approaching deadline included significant pay increases for both full-time and part-time employees, raising their starting wages to $21 per hour and projecting full-time drivers to earn about $170,000 annually by the contract’s conclusion.
The agreement also mandated that Martin Luther King Jr. Day would be recognized as a full holiday, prohibited forced overtime on days off, and eliminated a controversial wage tier among drivers, reflecting a broader victory for union members.
In a parallel, the video game industry saw performers negotiate terms with 80 different game companies, securing agreements that included essential protections concerning artificial intelligence after a month-long strike. This agreement set new wage standards and safeguarded performers from exploitative practices while ensuring integrity in physically demanding tasks.
On the Las Vegas Strip, hospitality union workers reached a groundbreaking tentative agreement with the Venetian and Palazzo resorts, marking the first such deal in the property’s extensive history. This contract, resulting from a year of negotiations, encompasses over 4,000 workers and aligns with similar contracts recently awarded to other hospitality workers in the area, which secured a notable pay increase and improved job security amidst technological advancements.
Additionally, unions representing healthcare workers reached a tentative agreement with Kaiser Permanente after a significant strike over wages and staffing, entailing minimum hourly wage standards and substantial pay increases over four years, while also addressing subcontracting safeguards and workforce investments.
In Hollywood, actors ended a nearly four-month strike in December 2023, following members’ approval of a new three-year contract with the studios. Central to the negotiations was the management and protection of artificial intelligence use, alongside provisions for pay increases and residuals for work distributed on streaming platforms.
Moreover, in October, dockworkers from the International Longshoremen’s Association returned to work after a brief strike at East and Gulf Coast ports, with a tentative agreement reached to avoid potential economic disruptions. While the strike has been paused until mid-January, negotiations continue regarding future automation concerns and job security.