It has been a year of firsts for the U.S. labor movement, with successful votes for unions’ first Amazon warehouse, first Apple Store and first Trader Joe’s, Chipotle and REI locations. The most promising of all for union organizers has been victories at some 250 Starbucks stores.
The labor movement has continued to gain traction this fall, despite a high-profile union defeat last week at an Amazon warehouse in Albany, N.Y. With 21 months of strong job gains, the tight labor market has resulted in unusual worker shortages across many sectors over the past year, giving workers more leverage with employers.
“There’s a combination of things that have contributed to this organizing wave that we’re seeing, and the pandemic and post-pandemic economy have been a large part of that,” said John Logan, a labor studies professor at San Francisco State University. “It has opened up an opportunity for unions that didn’t exist before the pandemic.”
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There are other objective measures of increased enthusiasm for unions this year. The National Labor Relations Board reported a 53 percent year-over-year increase in union election petitions over the past 12 months. Meanwhile, more Americans say they approve of labor unions, a high not seen since 1965.
“In a time where most institutions, including the Supreme Court, are becoming less and less popular or trusted, unions have their highest level of popularity in decades,” said David Weil, the Labor Department’s top wage and hour...
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