“Hot Labor Summer:” 2023’s Organized Labor Surge and What it Means for the 99%
Starbucks. Amazon. SAG-AFTRA. UAW. These are just a few of the strikes that have made headlines this year, in the USA alone. Source: Lev Radin, courtesy of Oxfam America
It’s been a big year for organized labor. In America, workers have made inroads against notoriously anti-union companies like Starbucks and Amazon. Meanwhile, strikes by organizations like the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) and UAW (United Auto Workers) have dominated headlines for months.
It’s no secret that the cost of living has increased dramatically over the last few years. Over the past two years, the US median rent price has increased by 15%. That’s $275 in increased rent payments. Food prices have also skyrocketed. The all-food Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased by 20.4% between 2018 and 2022, and the all-items CPI by 16.5%.
Wages, however, have not kept up with rising prices. Real wages, or the amount a person can expect to receive after adjusting for current inflation rates, increased by only 0.3% between August 2022 and August 2023. As a rising cost of living continues to place more and more pressure on the working class, unionizing and organized labor are a potent tool to gain necessary concessions for workers of all kinds. Workers across the country are taking advantage of collective bargaining to buffer themselves and their families against price hikes and even improve financial outlooks. By using their superior numbers and control over production, workers are able to force their bosses to come to the negotiation table.
For example, the UAW has expanded its strike to over 25,000 workers at manufacturing plants owned by Ford, GM, and Stellantis. The union is calling for a 40% wage increase along with cost of living adjustments (COLA) and other benefits which were rolled back in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. While they were enacted, COLA policies offered members up to 90% protection from inflation.
The UAW strike is not alone in its efforts. 2023 has brought more publicity to organized labor than it has seen in years. From SAG-AFTRA and the GWA’s allied strikes bringing Hollywood to a “standstill” to President Joe Biden’s appearance at the UAW’s “Big Three” picket line, this year’s news cycle has shown the power of coordinated, organized labor in bringing even the most seemingly untouchable industries to the bargaining table.
The Writers’ Guild of America, for example, won a new contract on September 24 after 146 days of striking – the second longest strike in Hollywood history. The writers’ new contract includes increased residual payments from streaming services and minimum wages, increased pensions and health fund rates, and protections against the use of AI to take writers’ jobs.
Of course, it is impossible to deny that companies incur increased costs as a result of strikes and their resulting contracts. Increased wages and benefits and “uncompetitive” practices like paid days off cost money. Concessions to the UAW’s demands, for example, would cost a projected $80 billion in increased labor costs over the 4-year span of the contract. In just one week, however, the UAW strike cost 1.6 billion, and with a relatively small number of manufacturing plants. In other words, ending the strike would pay for itself in just 50 weeks.
Former Ford CEO Mike Fields cautioned the company not to cave into demands that would leave the company less competitive, but the Big 3 are the three largest automotive manufacturers in the country, with the profit margins to prove it. Profits at the three companies affected–Ford, Stellantis, and GM–skyrocketed 92% between 2013 and 2022 to a total of $250 billion. Indeed, projections for 2023 expect $32 billion more. CEO pay at the three companies increased by an average of 40% during the same time period. With profits at an all-time high, is it not the most competitive solution to beat out the other two companies to end the strike at Ford plants and resume normal production?
Meanwhile, real wages for auto workers fell by 19.3% since 2008. The Big Three CEO’s make on average 300 times as much as their employees, an even more egregious ratio than in other industries.
Taken together, these numbers create a damning picture: the Big Three are simply not willing to maintain wages and benefits that keep up with costs of living, let alone improve quality of life, regardless of the depths of their pockets.
The unwillingness of CEOs to maintain livable wages for their employees isn’t just harmful to workers, but also to their communities and, in the long run, the company. Paying workers well keeps money circulating within their communities rather than adding to the net worths of multimillionaire CEOs. Employees are also consumers. Thus, higher wages give them more to spend on goods and services, including small businesses in the communities surrounding their workplace. Additional funds and improved health and retirement benefits also improve the quality of life of employees and their families.Well-paid, satisfied employees also tend not to strike. After all, no one wants to go without pay for days to weeks on end when their needs are already met by their employers.
As we have seen in previous strikes this year, striking is one of the working class’s best bets when it comes to getting their needs met in the workplace. If the results of the WGA have shown us anything, it’s that workers can win big.