Organized labor has scored some big victories this year, including new contracts at UPS. Can the winning streak continue?
That's the prevalent thinking at unions. Companies have racked up big profits during the pandemic and employers have been scrambling to find enough workers in a resilient jobs market.a Gallup pollUnions also have a friendly administration in the White House right now. Vice President Kamala Harris expressed her support for organized labor last week saying unions"make our middle class and our entire economy more strong.
The unemployment rate has been under 4% for 19 straight months — the longest such stretch in decades. Competition for workers is pushing up wages, especially for those at the bottom of the income ladder., with employers adding 187,000 jobs in August, compared to an average of 312,000 jobs in the first three months of the year.
That's contributing to a slowdown in new organizing at Starbucks as baristas don't feel they've gained much for all their efforts.People picket in front of a Starbucks store in the Greektown neighborhood of Chicago on June 24, 2023. Starbucks has fought hard against unionization efforts and unionized stores have yet to win a new contract.
And there are limits to how much help the White House can provide. The administration has taken steps to boost union participation in public works projects, for example. But it's gotten nowhere with unions' biggest priority — passing the PRO Act, which would make it easier for private sector workers to organizeIt's been a so-called"hot labor summer" — and more big battles loom in the fall.
These two fights are drawing outsized attention because of what they represent: a battle for job security in changing times.
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