"US labor movement faces big obstacles despite surge in strikes and union wins", October 31 2023

The US labor movement is having a moment amid some recent big union contract wins, surges in strikes, historic union election wins at aggressively anti-union corporations, and a presidential administration that touts itself as the “most pro-union in history”.

Last week, the United Auto Workers reached a historic tentative agreement with Ford that includes 25% wage gains, then shortly after reached an agreement with Stellantis and General Motors ...

Other unions have also won historic contract gains this year at large employers such as UPS and Hollywood studios for TV and film writers.

But labor in the US is still facing significant obstacles and challenges in transforming the popular culture shift into gains against a backdrop of decades of union decline, worsening wealth inequality, and broken labor laws where employers violate labor laws with impunity and try to delay and bust union organizing campaigns.

Unionized workers have been framing recent surges in strikes for new contracts around corporate greed, exorbitant profits and soaring executive pay, leveraging a tight labor market and a growing public shift in support of the US labor movement.

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