The overwhelming majority of strikers and potential strikers are doing so for the first time in their careers. Many say they are driven not just by wages or benefits. They say they are striking, or planning to strike, in a bid to do their jobs the way they believe they should be done, and to gain basic improvements in the quality of their lives, such as time with their families, which they say they deserve.
One of the main issues running through many of these strikes, or looming strikes, is workers’ anger.
“My nurses and health care professionals are angry,” said Elizabeth Hawkins, the negotiator for a union of 32,000 nurses which could soon be striking 14 hospitals and hundreds of clinics in Southern California and Hawaii run by health care giant Kaiser Permanente.
Airline employees work under a different labor law than most workers, one which limits their freedom to strike. So pilots will not be striking, but will instead protest work and scheduling conditions.
Sometimes just the threat of a strike is enough to get workers what they are seeking. Until late Saturday night 60,000 Hollywood workers were set to go on strike early Monday over such basic quality-of-life issues as meal breaks and time off on weekends. A work stoppage by the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) could have halted production of multiple movies, television shows and streaming series, marking what would have been the union’s first national strike and potentially the largest strike against US private sector employers in 14 years.
But late Saturday the union reached a deal for 40,000 of those workers on the West Coast, and a deal for the other 20,000 spread across the country is now expected to be reached before the Monday morning deadline. The deal reached Saturday won the union’s top negotiating goals, including better guarantees on meal breaks, and time off between shifts and on weekends.
“Workers should have improved morale and be more alert. Health and safety standards have been upgraded,” said Mike Miller, a union vice president and head of its motion picture bargaining unit.
Nonunion workers also hit the bricks
It is not just union members walking out.
Read More: Labor flexes its muscles as leverage tips from employers to workers