It feels like everywhere you look today another union is going on strike: from healthcare workers to baristas, to car manufacturers and even Hollywood actors. American unions are organizing in unprecedented ways, leveraging their power over the corporations they work for. However, unions have not always been so successful.
Why now?
It’s simple—corporate greed.
For the past decade, corporate profits have outgrown employee compensation in record margins.
These companies, contrary to popular belief, are even benefiting from the current rise in inflation. Data from the Kansas City Fed found that almost 60% of inflation in 2021 was because of company profit.
On top of inflation and increase in company profit not meeting an increase in employees’ compensation, working conditions in the United States have also declined. Amazon was found by the US Department of Labor last year to have unsafe working conditions for its employees. There have even been reports of drivers having to pee in bottles to be able to complete their work in the expected time.
The issue of employee compensation and working conditions came to a head during the global pandemic. As corporations were raking it in, their employees were barely able to survive with the cost of living crisis hitting a breaking point.
With the increase in company profits, added inflation, terrible working conditions and a global pandemic, American workers have finally had enough.
Corporations are losing their leverage over the American worker
As different cohorts of larger corporations such as Starbucks and Amazon began to strike, corporations are doing everything in their power to discourage these union members, even resorting to illegal methods.
For example, Starbucks was breaking so many labor laws at a time that the National Labor Relations Board couldn’t keep up with over 100 separate cases brought against Starbucks.
In early July, as the Writers Guild of America members protested outside of Universal Studios, the company decided to trim the trees so that the workers would not have any shade to stand in during the hottest days of the summer.
However, no amount of archaic sabotage could keep workers from reaching a deal with serious concessions from major studios as the WGA signed a 3-year historic contract that met most of their demands.
Sometimes, even the threat of a strike is enough to make corporations concede to Union demands as seen with UPS earlier this year. UPS workers were given $2.75 more per hour in 2023, and $7.50 more in total by the end of their five-year contract just by threatening to strike.
Multi-billion dollar corporations are scrambling to try and keep workers from taking back their power—and it’s not just corporations.
Late last month, Joe Biden became the first United States president in history to join workers on the picket line, supporting their efforts and saying that workers deserve the raises and concessions that they are looking for.
Workers are the backbone of the American economy and they will not stop until they are paid a living wage and guaranteed basic worker protections.
Overall, American workers are waking up to the power that they hold over greedy corporations and they are finally pushing back. Labor unions are the thorn in the side of unchecked capitalism, bringing power back to the worker.
