Members of the UAW rally and practice picketing near the Stellantis plant in Detroit, Aug. 23, 2023.
Michael Whelan/CNBC
From writers’ studios to car factories, workers are pressuring companies for better wages and a better quality of life. Many are willing to quit their jobs to make it happen, and some are winning.
In the wake of changes to job security and tough working conditions during the Covid-19 pandemic, soaring corporate profits, inflation, decades of high union support and a widening gap between worker wages and executive pay, increasingly Many workers of all walks of life became bolder. Take a tough stance against companies that dramatically improve pay and working conditions.
some, such as upsWorkers’ unions are hammering out a record labor deal after threats of strikes. Others have addressed the issue by going on strike.key worker Boeing supplier Spirit Aerosystems A deal with the company was approved in June after a brief layoff. The Writers Guild of America members are now on strike for more than 100 days.
In recent months, workers across the country have begun high-profile organizing before the Covid-19 pandemic and intensified in the aftermath of the global health crisis, affecting workers from amazon and Starbucks airlines and automakers.
“This pandemic has shaken everyone,” said Robert Bruno, director of the Labor Studies Program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Writers Guild of America workers picket outside Paramount Studios in Los Angeles, July 12, 2023.
Mario Tama | Getty Images
More than 320,000 workers have participated in at least 230 strikes so far this year, according to Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations.This is already higher than about 224,000 workers In 2022, they took part in some 420 strikes, largely due to the tens of thousands of striking workers from the Television Broadcasts Artists and Writers Guild of America, the Screen Actors Guild of America.
There have been only 16 such stoppages so far this year involving “major” strikes involving 1,000 or more workers Bureau of Labor Statistics. That compares with 25 recorded major shutdowns in 2019 and 23 last year, a record high.
These actions led to more organizing efforts and greater support for organized labor among Americans. Gallup reports that 71% of Americans support unions by 2022, the highest level since 1965.
There may be even more notable things in the future.
UAW is in national contract talks for nearly 150,000 workers General Motors, Ford and starthe deadline of September 14th at 11:59pm is approaching.
“I don’t want to strike, but I will. I absolutely will,” said Daniel “Chris” Wells, a Stellantis employee and UAW member who has been working for about three Year. “Do whatever it takes to get what we need and what we deserve.”
UAW President Shawn Fain said Friday that the union’s goal was not to strike but to win a “fair and equitable contract.” However, the combative union leader was more combative and quicker to use strike rhetoric than previous union leaders.
big contract
Many of the shutdowns so far this year have delivered major victories for union members.
After strikes against companies such as Dill and CNH Industrialthe UAW achieved most of what it demanded: double-digit wage increases, pension increases or improvements, and a restoration of cost-of-living adjustments.
Daniel “Chris” Wells, a Stellantis employee and member of the United Auto Workers, speaks at a union rally in Detroit on Aug. 23, 2023. , has been working for about three years.
Michael Whelan/CNBC
The company is now calling on Detroit automakers to make similar improvements, following other high-profile collective bargaining victories elsewhere in the country.
On Tuesday, UPS workers approved a massive five-year labor deal that includes big wage increases and other improvements to work rules and schedules. The company’s drivers — represented by the Truckers union, which represents the delivery giant’s roughly 340,000 employees — will make an average of $170,000 in wages and benefits at the end of the five-year agreement.
“It’s like a perfect storm for workers,” said Melissa Atkins, a labor and employment partner at Obermeyer. “People are living on wages, and now they have bargaining power.”
pilot in Delta Airlines and American airlines Contracts worth billions of dollars have been approved after months of picketing and strike authorization votes, although strikes by pilots are extremely rare and require a lengthy process under U.S. labor law. The pilot shortage gives unions more leverage in labor negotiations.
united airlines Last month it reached a tentative deal with its pilots union for pay rises of up to 40% over four years. The deal prompted American Airlines to increase its offer for its own pilots.
Among airlines, winning contracts is partly the result of years of accumulation. When the Covid-19 pandemic hit, airline unions were just beginning industry-wide talks, derailing contract talks. Many workers, such as pilots and flight attendants, are not getting pay rises as their pay contracts expire despite rising inflation.
Meanwhile, unions have complained about tight flight schedules and blamed airline management for the disruption.
Airlines are urging thousands to take early retirement plans despite receiving $54 billion in taxpayer aid to keep workers in jobs during the pandemic, catching them off guard when travel demand returns.
In Hollywood, actors and scribes are chasing higher wages and better back-end payouts tied to streaming success. Many have pointed out that royalties for shows or movies that are popular on streaming are often pitifully small, such as the recent interest in Suits. Netflix.
Screenwriters are still fighting for remuneration in the whole process of pre-production, production and post-production, which is relatively rare in the industry at present.
In the strike, writers and actors not only halted production, but also hampered marketing efforts.Actors may not promote any current, future or past work that is part of a studio production, such as leading some theatrical releases Warner Bros. Discovery Legendary Entertainment’s Dune: Part II escapes to 2024.
not just give
What workers are looking for is not just higher wages, but an improved quality of life, especially in the wake of pandemic working conditions.
“For the unionized workers who are on strike, this is the first contract many of them are negotiating since the outbreak,” said Dr. Johnny Callas. Candidate and Program Director for the ILR Industrial Action Tracker Program at Cornell University. “While many of the problems with workers going on strike are certainly not new, the pandemic has certainly exacerbated many of them.”
Hollywood talent is looking to studios to implement new rules, including minimum staffing requirements for screenwriters and audition rules, better working conditions and better health and pension benefits for actors. Both the WGA and SAG-AFTRA are calling for guardrails to be put in place when AI is used in industry.
Tensions continue to mount between the two guilds and Hollywood studios. Writers unions and studios have returned to the negotiating table, but with little progress. Negotiations with SAG-AFTRA may have to wait until the WGA talks are settled.
Southwest Airlines Negotiations are still ongoing with its pilots union, which has made better scheduling a central part of the negotiations. Kathy Murray, president of the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association, said frequent moves can tire pilots, just like passengers.
“They need that predictability,” he said, adding that the company had made some progress in talks with the pilots’ union in recent weeks. He said he was “cautiously optimistic” that an initial deal would be reached this year, the last of the four major U.S. airlines.
Taking back control of their schedules has been a common theme for several companies, including the deals UPS negotiated with truck drivers. Unions won limits on mandatory overtime.
UIUC’s Bruno says that when employees have more clout, “wages are expected to go up significantly.” “But it’s also an opportunity to realign work.”
It’s not just about working hours, he said, but also about employees “having a say in their working hours” in terms of work arrangements and other aspects of how they work.
The UAW’s goal is to improve the work-life balance of union members, many of whom are forced to work overtime or may lose their jobs. The union has proposed a 32-hour workweek to balance the situation for salaried employees.
“They say financial people are college educated, and you know how I feel about that, and that’s a big deal,” UAW President Fein said at a rally with hundreds of members last week. Members are deemed essential. If we don’t show up, we lose our damn jobs. Our members are expected to risk their lives, some of them sacrificing their lives, to keep the economy going during these times — And “educated” people, sitting safely in their living rooms and working remotely.
“We deserve the same. Our lives matter,” he said.
Tony Jordan, an auto mechanic and UAW member for over 20 years, works 60 hours a week at the Stellantis plant in Detroit. His priorities, he said, are maintaining the union’s platinum health care, a pay raise and possibly a 32-hour workweek to allow more time for his new grandchild.
He said he viewed the talks as a fight for the union’s “long-term viability.”
“Why not fight now? Not just for us, but for the working class,” he said.
— CNBC’s Sarah Whitten contributed to this report.
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