Labor Strikes Rose 52% in 2022 Amid Rise in Worker Activism

According to Cornell University researchers, labor strikes rose by 52% in the United States in 2022 compared to the previous year. Inflation “worker activism.”

The university’s ILR Worker Institute released its second annual Labor Action Tracker report Tuesday, which found there were 424 work stoppages nationwide last year — including 417 strikes and seven lockouts — up from 279 total stoppages in 2021.

Haverhill, MA – October 18, 2022: A rally was held outside Haverhill City Hall by Striking Haverhill teachers of public schools.  (Jim Davis/The Boston Globe via Getty Images/Getty Images

The number of striking workers also increased dramatically, rising from 140,000 in 2020 to 224,000 by 2022. This is an increase of around 60%. The majority of those involved in strike stoppages in 2018 were from the Maritimes. Education servicesThis country accounted for 60% of all those on picket lines.

Teachers and professors made up 56.3% of the total strike days. This figure is based on the study.

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Education workers were the most affected by labor disputes. However, accommodation and food service workers suffered the most work stops at 34%. Education services was at 17% and transport and warehouse workers at 10.1%.

Kyle Trainer, a striking Starbucks worker, uses a megaphone to call a Starbucks coffee shop outside during a strike in San Francisco on Nov. 17, 2022. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images / Getty Images)

The top reason for striking was the demand for higher pay. This issue led to 234 strikes involving over 160,000 workers. 

Cornell researchers discovered that more than two-thirds (or 68.9%) of all work stops last year were caused by workers. prior union recognition. 96.9% of the workers who were involved in labor disruptions were unionized.

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The ILR Worker Institute created a detailed database of strikes in the U.S. last Year. It claims that the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ data doesn’t reflect true work stoppages across America because it excludes incidents involving less than 1,000 workers. According to the researchers, BLS no longer counts smaller work stoppages during the Reagan Administration’s funding cuts in the 1980s.

UCLA Graduate student workers strike during a rally. Faculty members are there to support them and call for the university to offer a contract with a significant increase in benefits and pay to match the skyrocketing salaries. (Mel Melcon/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images/Getty Images

The BLS reported last month Despite the high profile unionization efforts of companies like Starbucks, Amazon, Apple and Apple, the union membership rates plummeted to an all time low in 2022.

Although wage and salary workers who are members of a union saw an increase of 1.9% between 2021-2022 it was not enough to keep up with the cumulative increase of non-union workers which was just below 4% according BLS data.

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The 2022 unionization rates of 10.1% and 19.1% are the lowest recorded. The 1983 union membership rate was just over 20%, which was the first year that comparable union data were made available.