Labor unions are pushing hard for better pay and hours — and winning

From writers’ rooms to car factories, workers are pressing companies for higher pay and better quality of life. Many are willing to walk off the job to get there, and some are winning.

Emboldened in the wake of shifting job security and grueling conditions during the Covid-19 pandemic, skyrocketing company profits, inflation, a decades-high approval rating for labor unions and growing disparity between worker pay and executive compensation, more workers across industries have taken a hard stance against companies for dramatic improvements in compensation and working conditions.

Some, like UPS‘ workers’ union, are nailing down record labor deals following threats of striking. Others have gone on strike to force the issue. Workers at key Boeing supplier Spirit AeroSystems in June approved a deal with the company after a brief work stoppage. Writers Guild of America members have now been on strike for more than 100 days.

The rich contracts and work stoppages in recent months follow high-profile organizing efforts by workers across the country that started prior to the Covid-19 pandemic and have grown increasingly more intense following the global health crisis, affecting companies from Amazon and Starbucks to airlines and automakers.

“The pandemic shook the ground of everybody,” said Robert Bruno, director of the Labor Studies Program at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

More than 320,000 workers have participated in at least 230 strikes so far this year, according to data from the Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations. That’s already higher than the roughly 224,000 workers who participated in roughly 420 strikes in 2022, due in large part to tens of thousands of striking workers with the Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists and Writers Guild of America.

“Major” strikes involving 1,000 or more workers so far amount to just 16 such work stoppages this year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That compares to a recent high of 25 recorded major work stoppages in 2019 and 23 last year.

The actions have led to more organizing efforts and greater support by Americans for organized labor. Gallup reports 71% of…