Starbucks executives announced in February that they had agreed to negotiate pay raises and working conditions with a union representing 10,000 of the company's baristas at more than 400 of its 17,000 stores in the United States. The coffeehouse chain's recognition of its employees' bargaining unit, Starbucks Workers United, was described by labour activists as a thunderclap signalling a historic shift in labour relations nationwide.
After years of decline, organized labor in the US is surging as more employees are forcing their employers to negotiate their wages, benefits, and job duties and are challenging their bosses' business plans. And when their demands go unmet, more employees are walking off the job than at any time in the last half-century.
492,000 workers in the US went on strike in 2023, a 70 percent increase from the year before. In the first four months of 2024, over 481,500 workers have already gone on strike, showing a significant rise in worker militancy.
In the past 16 months, various professionals like nurses, doctors, and pilots have successfully gone on strike and negotiated significant pay increases. Hotel workers in Los Angeles staged over 130 strikes to demand higher wages effectively.
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