A new breed of leaders are atop the largest US unions today. Here are some faces to know
From picket lines in Hollywood to walkouts against Detroit automakers, it's already been a big year for labor organizing — and behind several major showdowns with enormous companies are some of America's largest unions
NEW YORK — There will be no Emmy Awards tonight and there are thousands of auto workers on picket lines in Missouri, Michigan and Ohio in a seemingly rapid reemergence of organized labor this year.
Unions have nowhere near the pull, or members, that they did decades ago, yet something has changed. There's no single explanation, but the boiling point we’re seeing today comes amid soaring costs of living and a widening gap between what workers and top executives are paid. Thousands of workers who were asked to make sacrifices during the pandemic even as corporate profits soared are now asking for a bigger piece of the pie.
Those demands have sparked grassroots organizing efforts across the country in the last year. And some of the nation’s largest unions have simultaneously been at the center of heated contract negotiations — with writers and actors hitting Hollywood picket lines, unionized auto workers striking at Detroit's Big Three and UPS reaching a new deal to avert a work stoppage that could have significantly disrupted the nation's supply chain.
Leading those efforts are new union leaders voted into power by workers that have seemingly run out of patience as they have a more difficult time making ends meet.
Here are some faces you should know.
Before Shawn Fain became the rallying voice for thousands of unionized auto workers striking at major car companies today, he was an electrician for Chrysler in his hometown of Kokomo, Indiana.
Fain became president of United Auto Workers this year, but his
Read more on abcnews.go.com
