Strikes Drag on Across Industries

Editor's Note: Kaiser Permanente reached a tentative deal with more than 75,000 of its health care workers on Oct. 13, according to the New York Times.​

A summer of strikes shows no signs of cooling off this fall. Autoworkers and actors are still on picket lines across the country this week, while health care workers contemplate another walk-off.

We've gathered articles on the news from SHRM Online and other trusted media outlets.

Widening Autoworkers Strike

The United Auto Workers (UAW) union announced a major escalation of its strike, ordering workers off the job at Ford's largest plant. On Oct. 11, the union told 8,700 workers to strike at the Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville, Ky. The UAW has been on strike against Ford, General Motors and Stellantis since Sept. 15.

The additional Kentucky workers bring UAW's total to about 34,000 striking U.S. workers, or roughly 23 percent of UAW members covered by expired contracts with the automakers.

General Motors recently agreed to include workers at its electric vehicle battery plant in the company's national contract with the union.

(CNN and CNBC)

Deal Achieved in Canada

General Motors and Unifor, the union representing Canadian autoworkers, reached a tentative contract agreement on Oct. 10, ending a one-day strike with about 4,300 workers at two General Motors factories and a parts warehouse in Ontario. The GM workers struck after Unifor workers ratified a new three-year labor contract with Ford in September.

The GM deal includes pensions, retiree income support and converting full-time temporary workers into permanent employees.

(NPR)

Kaiser Permanente Workers May Strike Again; Walgreens and CVS Workers Protest

A coalition of unions representing thousands of Kaiser Permanente health care workers warned they will walk off the job again next month if a deal is not reached with their employer.

Facilities across California, Washington, Oregon, Virginia and Washington, D.C., have threatened to strike for a second time if a new labor contract is not agreed to before Nov. 1, after a contract for 3,000 more Kaiser employees in Seattle expires on Oct. 31.

More than 75,000 workers at Kaiser Permanente went on a three-day strike on Oct. 4 in five states and Washington, D.C., affecting millions of customers. The union raised concerns about staffing shortages that made working conditions unsafe.

Meanwhile, thousands of pharmacists and technicians participated in an organized work stoppage at Walgreens stores across the country. The same happened at CVS pharmacies in Kansas City two weeks ago. Employees said demand in understaffed pharmacies has made working conditions untenable. They are requesting that the company hire more pharmacy staff, establish mandatory training hours, offer transparency in how payroll hours are assigned to stores, and give advance notice when staff will be cut or when a position opens.

(CNNopens in a new tab, SHRM Online and The Washington Postopens in a new tab)

Actors Strike Continues

Negotiations between Hollywood studios and the union representing tens of thousands of actors broke down on Oct. 11 with both sides saying that they remained far apart on the most significant issues. The actors' union has been on strike for 91 days. Members are seeking wage increases and protections around the use of their images with artificial intelligence.

Screenwriters were on strike for 148 days, but their union reached a deal with the studios, and they returned to work on Sept. 27. The writers secured increases in royalty payments for streaming content and guarantees that artificial intelligence will not encroach on writers' credits and compensation.

The California economy has lost an estimated $5 billion as a result of the strikes. Tens of thousands of behind-the-scenes workers have been out of work for months. Share prices for many major media companies have dropped.

(The New York Times and SHRM Online)