The Resurgence of Unions: How Strong & How Lasting

A New Face for Unions

During the years I covered labor and workplace matters for The New York Times—from 1995 to 2014—America’s labor leaders talked year after year about their hopes and ambitions for a labor resurgence. But the trend lines suggested they were fighting a losing battle.

In the 1950s, more than one in three American workers belonged to a union. But that dropped to one in six in the 1990s. Today, union participation rates have fallen to just one in 10, with just one in 16 private-sector workers belonging to unions.

Today’s numbers represent the lowest rate of unionization since the 1930s, before President Franklin Roosevelt signed the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), a landmark law that gave private-sector workers a federally backed right to unionize and bargain collectively. The New Dealers in Congress enacted that law because they were eager to give Depression-battered workers more bargaining power so they could win higher wages to help lift their families out of poverty and, the lawmakers hoped, propel the nation out of the Great Depression.

I’m often asked to speak at universities nowadays, and when I do, I say there is more excitement about unions right now than at any time since the NLRA was passed and the historic Flint sit-down strike succeeded in unionizing General Motors in the 1930s. That strike, along with workers’ dismay about Depression-era wages, inspired a wave of additional sit-down strikes and unionization victories across the U.S.

More recently, the landmark unionization victories at Starbucks and Amazon have sparked conversations well beyond executives and workers of those two companies. Employees at many other workplaces are telling themselves that if workers can succeed against those fiercely anti-union companies, then they may have a good shot at unionizing their employers.

As a result, there is a realistic chance of union membership rising in the coming years after decades of decline. And this is not your grandfather’s or grandmother’s union movement. These are not auto plants in Flint or steel mills in Pittsburgh.

Labor experts point to such union victories as MIT’s grad student workers voting 1,785-912 in favor of unionizing and their counterparts at Caltech voting 799-246 to unionize. At the Art Institute of Chicago, workers voted 142-44 in favor of unionizing, while REI workers in Manhattan embraced unionization in an 88-14 vote. And as many of these workers saw their friends enthusiastically embrace unionization, it has created what sociologists call the contagion effect. 

Restlessness, Resentment, and Political Tailwinds 

Over the past few years, I’ve asked dozens of workplace experts why we’re seeing a revival of interest in unions. Many point to a growing restlessness and even anger tied to the pandemic.

I first sensed that something was brewing in March 2020 when I was researching an op-ed for The New York Times about how workers were being treated during the pandemic. COVID-19 was beginning to spread rapidly, and many workers were panicked and perplexed about how best to protect themselves. I interviewed Ana Martinez, a McDonald’s worker in San Jose, Calif. She complained that management wasn’t providing workers with masks, gloves, or hand sanitizer. Martinez was so angry that she led a walkout. “We feel underappreciated and undervalued, so my co-workers and I decided to take this step to fight back,” she said. 

Something truly different is going on here, I thought. It’s rare for McDonald’s workers to walk out in protest. Martinez and her co-workers felt management was taking them and their safety for granted at a perilous time, and they started asking a serious question: Why should we risk our lives for a small paycheck? Many workers grew angry that while their companies were doing good business and getting pandemic subsidies, the “essential workers” often weren’t receiving raises or hazard pay.

Political tailwinds are also helping create conditions for a unionization surge. Not only is public approval for unions at its highest level since the 1960s, but in Joe Biden, workers arguably have the most pro-union president in American history. At last year’s UAW strike, Biden became the first sitting president to join a union picket line.

Many workers have also been swayed by the Bernie Sanders effect. The Vermont senator’s pro-union views and crusade against income inequality inspired more interest in unions among young people when he ran for president in 2016 and 2020.

Economic conditions are also fueling the fire. The nation’s unemployment rate has remained at 4% or below since early 2022. That gives workers more confidence to stick their necks out to form a union or to go on strike, because it’s easier for them to find a job if they lose their job.

Moreover, many workers are feeling strong resentment about America’s income inequality. They’re seeing statistics online, for example, that say CEOs at the largest public companies earned 344 times as much as the typical worker in 2022. In 1965, those CEOs earned just 21 times what the typical worker earned.

A High-Stakes Tug-of-War

Several young people who support unions have told me they’ve been surprised, even shocked, by two big obstacles they faced in their efforts to unionize. One was the fierceness of the resistance that Starbucks, Amazon, Trader Joe’s, and many other companies have mounted to stop unionization. That can take the form of hiring union-avoidance consultants or firing pro-union workers. (It is illegal to fire workers for backing a union.) Such resistance has likely slowed unionization at many corporations.

A second, arguably bigger obstacle: Workers at various Starbucks, Amazon, Trader Joe’s, REI, Apple, and Chipotle facilities all first unionized more than 18 months ago. Yet workers at none of those places have reached a first contract. Without a first contract that delivers improvements, many workers inevitably grow discouraged with the idea of unionization. Seeing the difficulties in winning a contract, workers at nonunion shops may feel less tempted to unionize.

While workers say these companies are dragging their feet to delay reaching a contract, the companies insist they’re bargaining in good faith. “There’s essentially nothing under labor law that forces employers to bargain,” said Kate Bronfenbrenner, a labor expert at Cornell University.

Plus, unions can face headwinds in the courts. On June 13, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Starbucks’ favor and made it harder for the National Labor Relations Board to win an injuction—for instance, to reinstate a pro-union worker who was fired—when an employer is accused of acting illegally to defeat unionization efforts.

Tensions between labor and corporate leaders are high these days, and they’re much higher in the United States than in many other countries. Corporate executives in France, Britain, Germany, Italy, Sweden, and Switzerland don’t resent unions the way many American executives do. European executives may not love labor unions, but most see them as legitimate institutions—they often call them social partners.

We’re at a potentially pivotal moment for the U.S. labor movement. With Americans more enthusiastic about unions than in decades, union leaders hope to ride that energy to widespread unionization. For corporate leaders, this moment of growing support for unions should be a call to action—a time to deal with a more restive, more assertive workforce in a way that works for the company and the worker alike.