2023 has been a year of strikes. Hollywood was brought to a standstill by the Writers Guild and SAG-AFTRA unions. For the first time ever, the United Auto Workers launched a strike against the three major American automakers at once. In mid-October, 75,000 health care workers from Kaiser Permanente walked off the job.
The strikes have broad public support among voters from both parties. Nearly 60 percent of Americans approve of the UAW and WGA/SAG-AFTRA strikes, including almost half of Republicans, who have historically been less keen on unions. Gallup polls show that overall support for unions in the past three years is at levels we haven’t seen in decades.
This growing labor momentum presents an opportunity to mobilize people from across the political spectrum around the idea that all workers — not just those in unions — should share in the profits they help create. Our research suggests that redistributing America’s wealth through the labor market may enjoy wider support among voters and, given Congressional gridlock, be more politically feasible than fixing inequality through increased government spending alone.
Read the full article at The Boston Globe.
This article was produced by Footnote in partnership with the CUNY Graduate Center and Washington State University.
