From Hollywood to Detroit, labor unions are flexing their muscle in ways they haven’t in decades, suddenly gaining the upper hand after years of waning membership and influence.
While it’s clear that unions are having a moment, it’s less certain whether they can sustain the resurgence.
Labor drives at iconic companies such as Starbucks and Amazon, plus the Biden administration’s pro-union stance and recent polls showing public support for unions on the rise, have created a spark of optimism after decades of eroding influence. Yet union membership continues to dwindle, workers at facilities across the country are rejecting joining unions and an economic downturn could erase the momentum they’ve gained.
“We are seeing positive signs in the labor movement, things we didn’t see five years ago,” said Paul Clark, who teaches labor studies and employment relations at Pennsylvania State University. “But we are not sure if this is a momentary blip because of a conversion of factors, or a long-term trend. A recession could turn this around very quickly.”
Union leaders say they’ve turned a corner. Workers at Starbucks, Amazon, Trader Joe’s, REI, Uber, and Lyft all have unionized in the past year. Earlier this month, exotic dancers at a Los Angeles topless club formed the nation’s first union for strippers.
This year there have been more than 200 work stoppages involving 320,000 employees, nearly ten times the amount just two years ago, according to data from the AFL-CIO.
A strike by Hollywood screenwriters is about to enter its sixth month, and they were joined by 65,000 actors last month. Graduate student workers at the University of Michigan took up picket signs in March with no signs of stopping.
And more strikes could be on the way. Last week, the United Auto Workers union overwhelmingly voted to green-light a strike, which could come as soon as their current contract expires on Sept. 14. American Airlines pilots and flight attendants on Thursday also voted to head to the picket line.
“Working people are reclaiming our power. Working people are taking on the companies that have exploited us for a long time now,” said AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler in her annual pre-Labor Day speech. “So, the state of the unions? The state of the unions is on the rise.”
But the percentage of American workers in a union continues to decline, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Last year, union membership fell by 0.2 percentage points to 10.1%, the lowest ever recorded, with a majority of those in public sector unions.
It was the second straight year that union membership fell, and far from its peak in the 1950s, when one in three workers belonged to a union. While job actions are on the rise, the 320,000 striking employees are just a small percentage of the 167 million workers in the U.S.
Union leaders keep touting recent victories, but they’ve had a number of stinging losses. Amazon workers at one warehouse agreed to unionize, but several other sites rejected a union bid. Employees at a major Nissan factory in Tennessee voted not to form a union, and the roughly 350 Starbucks sites that have unionized are a tiny sliver of the coffee chain’s total stores.
“Organizing a Trade Joe’s here and a Whole Foods there isn’t going to make the union membership curve suddenly spike upward,” Mr. Clark said. “Organizing all the Amazon warehouses across the country could, but so far, they’ve only organized one.”
A key reason unions have reclaimed some of the eroded power is the Biden administration’s efforts to both safeguard and bolster labor. President Biden frequently boasts that he’s the “most pro-labor president’ in history, using his bully pulpit to encourage workers to join unions. All of his key legislative wins have included provisions incentivizing the use of union labor.
The president will travel to Philadelphia on Labor Day to mark the federal holiday.
The administration’s backing of Big Labor goes well beyond the president’s megaphone. Mr. Biden’s Labor Department and National Labor Relations Board have issued a slew of pro-union actions over the past three years.
Earlier this month, the NLRB resurrected a policy it had eliminated more than 50 years ago to make it easier for workers to unionize without holding formal elections.
The National Right to Work Foundation, which advocates against unionizing, said the “card check” process revived by the ruling lacks the protections of secret ballot elections. NRWF President Mark Mix said the decision gives “a blank check” to unions to force workers into their ranks.
“The core principle of American labor law is that the workers choose the union,” Mr. Mix said in a statement. “The Biden administration has turned this commonsense principle on its head.”
The decision came one day after another ruling in which the board curtailed employers’ efforts to delay elections. Taken together, the two rulings form a powerful one-two punch for unions.
One week later, the Department of Labor proposed a rule that would make more than 3 million workers eligible for overtime pay, a measure that was widely supported by labor unions.
Some say those actions are a sign that the environment is improving for unions.
“The decisions of the Labor Relations Board and the actions of the Labor Department are taking steps to make life better for workers. That hasn’t happened for a long time,” said Kate Bronfenbrenner, director of Labor Education Research at Cornell University.
But others say these actions are proof that union influence is waning and needs to be artificially propped by the Biden administration, which overwhelmingly endorsed the president in 2020.
“Unions have become wards of government action. Their product isn’t saleable in this current economic environment so they need to rely on the government for power,” said Mr. Mix.
While these rulings coming out of the Biden administration are major victories for labor, some question if those wins will be short-lived. The NLRB ruling is already facing multiple court appeals and likely to head to the Supreme Court, which is dominated by Republican appointees.
“Regardless of what Biden does or does not do, the bigger question is what is the Supreme Court going to do?” said Ms. Bronfenbrenner.
Another factor favoring unions is the tight labor market. Declining unemployment rates and lack of a skilled workforce have prompted companies to offer better benefits and wages to keep employees from leaving for competitors.
That has given workers the upper hand with companies struggling to attract and retain power. For example, U.S. freight workers last year rejected a contract that included a 24% wage increase because it did not include paid sick leave.
Fears of a potential recession could quickly shift the balance of power. That would make it harder for employees to find other jobs and less willing to risk their work.
Perhaps the biggest paradox when it comes to the future of unions lies in recent polls. Both union boosters and critics find ammo for their viewpoints in the surveys.
A Gallup poll released this week found that 67% of Americans approve of labor unions. It is a slight drop from 71% a year ago, but is up from 62% five years ago.
Yet a Gallup poll from last year found that only 11% of respondents were interested in joining a union and 58% said they were not at all interested in becoming a union member.
Mr. Mix said that response underscores that the American people view labor unions as out of touch with working people, while Ms. Bronfenbrenner says it reflects the obstacles workers view to unionizing.
“Public opinion of unions is overwhelmingly positive, but workers don’t want to go through hoops of fire and risk their jobs to join one,” she said. “It’s two completely different questions.”
The poll also shows that younger workers are more engaged in unions and more interested in organizing than previous generations, which points to a bright future for labor, Ms. Bronfenbrenner said. She predicts that younger workers connecting with each other globally through social media will grow the labor movement for years to come.
“This is more than a blip because the workers who are most interested in unions right now are young people and they are going to be around a long time,” she said.
Mr. Mix, however, pointed to some losses during union drives that suggest rank-and-file workers are fed up with labor. Roughly 350 Starbucks stores have unionized out of the company’s 16,061 total locations, which amounts to 2.1%. Another 68 unionization petitions were withdrawn and 68 votes failed.
“You have over 100 losses and withdrawals and 350 wins, which is roughly 2% of Starbucks total stores, but the narrative is that this is a massive gain,” he said.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.