Autoworkers are the latest to spotlight the power of US labor. What is the state of unions today?
Autoworkers are the latest to spotlight the power of US labor.
NEW YORK — U.S. labor unions are once again flexing the muscles in the national spotlight.
The United Auto Workers' tentative agreements with Detroit's Big Three automakers could end the union's six-week strike. Gridlock persists in Hollywood between actors and major studios, while hospitality workers in Las Vegas, Detroit, Southern California and beyond are fighting for better pay and protections.
But despite historic walkouts and record contract deals seen this year, there's a lot stacked against labor organizers. Union membership rates in the U.S. have been falling for decades due to changes in the economy, employer opposition, growing political partisanship and legal challenges.
“Even though we’re seeing stronger support for unions, (with) the highest popularity of union favorability in polls since at least the 1960s, translating the worker desire for representation into actual representation is really hard under our current system,” Alexander Colvin, dean of Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations, told The Associated Press earlier this month.
Still, some labor advocates see growing momentum. Here's where things stand.
Across the U.S., hundreds of thousands of workers have participated in strikes this year. Labor activism has surged in tandem with soaring costs of living and rising inequality, particularly the growing pay gap between workers and top executives. Those inequities only became more glaring during the COVID-19 pandemic as U.S. corporations raked in record profits.
“It’s kind of a perfect storm, (so) you see a lot of union movement these days,” said Eunice Han, an assistant professor at the University of Utah
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