Historic strikes reshape American labor landscape

SAG-AFTRA captain Mary M. Flynn rallies fellow striking actors on a picket line outside Netflix studios in November 2023. AP Photo/Chris Pizzello More than 492,000 workers – including nurses, actors, screenwriters, autoworkers, hotel cleaners, teachers and restaurant servers – walked off their jobs during the first 10 months of 2023. That includes about 46,000 autoworkers who went on strike for about six weeks, starting in mid-September. The United Auto Workers union won historic gains that have the potential to transform the industry in its contracts with General Motors, Ford and Stellantis – the company that includes Chrysler. In addition, more than 75,000 Kaiser Permanente workers took part in the largest strike of U.S. health care workers to date. This crescendo of labor actions follows a relative lull in U.S. strikes and a decline in union membership that began in the 1970s. Today’s strikes may seem unprecedented, especially if you’re under 50. While this wave constitutes a significant change following decades of unions’ losing ground, it’s far from unprecedented. We’re sociologists who study the history of U.S. labor movements. In our new book, “Union Booms and Busts,” we explore the reasons for swings in the share of working Americans in unions...