Labor Day 2022: US Trade Unionism in the Covid ERA

Since March 2020, the U.S. labor market has been dramatically impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. With shelter-in-place orders issued throughout the U.S. late in March 2020, only those classified as essential businesses often remained open. Many establishments temporarily closed, resulting in the unemployment rate cresting at 14.8% in April 2020, an unseen level since the Great Depression.

The two-year old pandemic also affected trade unions in various ways. On Labor Day 2022, U.S. trade unionism is experiencing a modest revival due to increased employee interest in unions, a revitalization of worker militancy through the occurrence of more strikes, as well as enhanced union organizing activity. Another positive sign for union revival is that, according to a September 2021 Gallup poll, 68% of the public currently supports trade unions, the highest approval rating since 1965. With union density registering 10.3% in 2021 (the same as in 2019), it is far below its 1955 peak of 35%. Nevertheless, any good news for U.S. trade unions is news that should be celebrated on Labor Day 2022.

Most essential workers, those employed in the health care, food and agriculture, and service industries, were concerned with their COVID-19 exposure at work. Unionized workers benefitted from their labor organizations, taking safety concerns seriously. For example, research indicates that unionized nursing homes had COVID-19 infection rates among workers that were 6.8% lower than among nonunion nursing home employees. Moreover, in unionized nursing homes, residents were 10.8% less likely to die of the coronavirus than those living in their nonunion counterparts. Another study discovered that unionized nursing homes were more likely to provide employees with N95 masks and that residents’ chances of dying from COVID-19 was reduced by 30% compared to those dwelling in nonunion facilities.

Safety issues also led to worker-initiated strikes among nonunion employees and protests among unionized workers. For example, during the spring 2020, Amazon warehouse employees, Whole Foods workers, as well as Instacart and Shipt gig workers, among others, engaged in work stoppages due to their companies refusing to implement safety procedures that the workers felt were necessary due to the coronavirus.

Not all strikes, however, during the last two years were centered on safety concerns among nonunion workers. Prior to the pandemic, the labor force participation rate (LFPR) registered at 63.3%, which declined to 61.6% in September 2021. This LFPR drop, a decrease in the unemployment rate to 4.7% that month, combined with more employees leaving their jobs during the pandemic, undoubtedly provided employees with more leverage, emboldening US trade unions.

This increase in worker power reduced the risk of engaging in work stoppages, as indicated by a rise in the quantity of strikes and planned walkouts in October 2021: “Striketober.” Upwards of 100,000 workers participated in walkouts or planned strikes that month, including a proposed work stoppage by the International Association of Theatrical Stage Employees against Hollywood producers, the Nabisco walkout by the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers’ International Union, the Kellogg strike by the same union, and the United Auto Workers strike against John Deere, among others.

Additionally, likely due to workers perceiving they had more clout, union organizing surged in 2021 and 2022 based on National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) data. The NLRB reported that from October 2021 to March 2022, 57% more union certification election petitions (an increase from 748 to 1174 petitions) were filed compared with the previous year. Moreover, much union organizing success occurred in establishments that have been difficult to unionize in the past.

On April 1, 2022, despite vigorous company opposition, Amazon warehouse employees in Staten Island (New York) celebrated a historic victory: a margin of 2,654 to 2,131 votes seeking to be represented by the Amazon Labor Union, a grassroots organization that had existed for less than a year, led by Chris Smalls, a fired company warehouse worker. Store employees at a Buffalo (NY) Starbucks, another employer known for strongly combatting unionism, won an NLRB election in December 2021, which inspired Starbucks workers throughout the nation to organize. By the end of July 2022, employees at some 200 stores had unionized.

The number of strike participants during the COVID-19 pandemic is dwarfed by the two million strikers during the 1945-1946 post- World War II strike wave. The unionization of new employees in 2021-2022 falls far short of those organized into industrial unions in the auto, steel, and rubber industries during the mid- to late- 1930s, but these gains still represent a noteworthy achievement for US trade unionism.

Much of the union and nonunion worker strike activity, as well as the recent unionization campaigns, occurred due to the grassroots efforts of workers themselves, who were frustrated with their job situations. Unions must build on this worker initiative through publicizing recent gains while continuing to educate nonunion workers on trade unionism’s benefits. Labor leader-driven campaigns will not revive US trade unionism. Such a revitalization will only occur if workers actively participate in shaping the trade unions’ future.

Dr. Victor G. Devinatz is Distinguished Professor of Management, specializing in labor relations, and was the Hobart and Marian Gardner Hinderliter Endowed Professor (2014-2015) at Illinois State University. He can be contacted at vgdevin@ilstu.edu.