By Daniela Morales, 11th grade.

For both business owners and employees in the United States, 2023 has been a chaotic year with many worker unions rising to protest for better working conditions among different fields. Despite the risks of striking, like permanently losing your job, not having a salary throughout the strike, losing social security benefits provided by the workplace, and not having guaranteed unemployment benefits, 362,000 workers had participated in strikes as of September 2023 (Nova, 2023).  In this article, I will focus on the Amazon, Starbucks, Writer’s guild, Sag-Aftra, and United Auto Workers strike. 

First, starting with Starbucks, across its many locations this franchise has seen  a surge in unionized strikes due to multiple reasons. Some of this strikes arised due to management’s attempt at limiting unionization of Starbucks establishments. In March of this year, over 100 Starbucks establishments joined in protest against the enterprise’s anti-union movements. 

Tensions arise because Starbucks had been closed down a few of their stores under worries about worker safety, and Starbucks Workers United (the union representing these employees), thought the real reason this stores were being closed was due to unionization (Vinopal, 2022). In 2022, Starbucks Workers United said Starbucks had fired a staggering 100 union leaders and some of these were only given their job back due to federal law procedures (Otten, 2023). 

Another issue that cause union members to strike in Starbucks was pride month decorations. In June of this year, 3,500 employees from over 100 different stores in the United States decided to go on strike with claims that Starbucks had restricted the pride month decorations employees were able to hang on stores. 

Starbucks responded to these allegations by saying they were supportive of the LGBTQ community and that employees had the freedom to decorate however they wanted as long as these decorations did not infringe safety guidelines. However, the union members claimed that Starbucks response was insufficient, because they left decoration up to the hands of each store owner, and that “these leaders are the same ones issuing many of the Pride bans” (Valinsky, 2023). 

Moving on to Amazon, its strikes have been various and frequent throughout this year. Amazon has maintained a posture against unionization of its employees. A study conducted in the United States by the Open Markets Institute found that Amazon maintains networks of surveillance over its employees, supported by tools like thermal camera and navigation softwares, and that they even create maps in which they strike which stores are more inclined to unionize (Bose, 2020).

A lot of workers from different locations around the world have joined under the slogan “Make Amazon Pay”. The movement in the U.K. is very well known with workers being represented by the GMB union. Starting January this year, they orchestrated strikes and walkouts demanding a higher salary, since Amazon had only given them an increase of 50 pence per hour, not enough considering the rise in prices due to inflation. 

The employees want Amazon to pay them at least 15 pounds an hour (Browne, 2023). More recently, Amazon workers from more than 30 countries have announced that since November 24, they will engage on strikes and shutdowns coinciding with Black Friday. The global “Make Amazon pay” campaign englobes more than 80 organizations and doesn’t seem like it will relent anytime soon (Adu, 2023). 

Moving on to the creative industry, the Writer’s guild and Sag-Aftra strike has been one of the most famous this year. This is because when actors stop working, many people wonder over the future of their favorite tv shows and movies. Similarly, when writers stop producing series and movies stunt their production, and so do books. 

On April 17th, WGA or the Writer’s guild began its strike after most members voted in favor, while Sag-Aftra followed soon after in July 17. The workers under the Writer’s guild were  protesting for better minimum salaries, better social security policies, appropiate pay from pre to pos-procuction, among other conditions. Sag-Aftra had similar demans including better salaries for actors, and an increase in residuals, the amount an actor earns for a production they were part of after this one is aired. While Sag-Aftra is still on strike, WAG reached an agreement the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Produces on September, and it was ratified on October 9 (Frank, 2023). 

This agreement will be valid for three year, until May 31, 2026, and WAG has assured that it includes “meaningful gains and protections for writers in every sector of our combined membership” (Madaran & Legaspi, 2023). Some of the benefits they gained through this negotiation are: AI being prohibited as being used to write or rewrite literary material, greater residuals, a 12.5% increase in salaries over the three years, and minimum staffing requirements (Malleck, 2023). 

Finally, the UAW or United Auto Worker strikes is based on a coalition of workers from Ford, GM motors, and Stellantis. The employees are mainly advocating for a 30% increase in their salaries, and for the gap in salaries between old workers and new workers to be more equal (Domonoske, 2023). On Oct 25, the UAW reached a tentative deal with Ford, and on Oct 28, the reached one with Stellantis, leaving only GM without negotiations stricken. 

In the deal with Ford, employees were able to gain a 25% increase in salaries over four and half years, a 68% increase in starting wages, the right to strike over closing of plants, among other benefits. The fact that this strike was active for six weeks is surprising, due to how much these companies suffer when their workers protest. Throughout the strike Ford lost $1.3 billion and GM $800 million (Wayland, 2023). 

Looking at all these strikes, we can see that regardless of them being composed by workers from very different industries, most of them share the same reasons: companies’ attempts to limit unionization, a need for higher salaries, and protection for workers. The ability of unions to organizes protests and achieve contracts shows how powerful civil action can be in maneuvering the pieces in the table so that workers can have a more fair work experience. 

Sources:

Nova, A. (2023, September 22). UAW strikes could make 2023 the biggest year for labor activity in nearly four decades. CNBC. https://www.cnbc.com/2023/09/22/uaw-strikes-could-make-2023-biggest-year-for-labor-activity-in-decades.html

Otten, T., Thakker, P., & Varkiani, A. M. (2023, October 29). Starbucks workers are on a nationwide strike to protest union-busting. The New Republic. https://newrepublic.com/post/171323/starbucks-workers-nationwide-strike-protest-union-busting

Hsu, A. (2022, October 2). Starbucks workers have unionized at record speed; many fear retaliation now. NPR. https://www.npr.org/2022/10/02/1124680518/starbucks-union-busting-howard-schultz-nlrb#:~:text=Workers%20United%20says%20Starbucks%20has,to%20reinstate%20the%20seven%20workers

Vinopal, C. (2022, July 13). Starbucks is shutting down 16 U.S. stores, two of which are unionized, citing safety concerns. Observer. https://observer.com/2022/07/starbucks-is-shutting-down-16-u-s-stores-two-of-which-are-unionized-citing-safety-concerns/

Valinsky, J. (2023, June 23). Starbucks workers at 150 stores go on strike over pride decorations | CNN business. CNN. https://edition.cnn.com/2023/06/23/business/starbucks-union-pride-strike/index.html

Bose, N. (2020, August 31). Amazon’s surveillance can boost output and possibly limits unions -study. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/article/amazoncom-workers-surveillance-idUSL4N2FW0CK

Browne, R. (2023, January 26). “robots are treated better”: Amazon Warehouse Workers Stage first-ever strike in the UK. CNBC. https://www.cnbc.com/2023/01/25/amazon-workers-stage-first-ever-strike-in-the-uk-over-pay-working-conditions.html

Guardian News and Media. (2023, October 27). “make Amazon Pay” Black Friday strikes planned in 30 countries including UK. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/oct/27/make-amazon-pay-black-friday-strikes-planned-in-30-countries-including-uk

Malleck, J. (2023, September 27). The WGA is calling its new deal “exceptional.” here’s why. Quartz. https://qz.com/wga-strike-deal-amptp-ai-residuals-pay-raise-1850877137#:~:text=Overall%2C%20Hollywood%20writers%20will%20be,increase%20in%20the%20subsequent%20years

Wayland, M. (2023, October 28). UAW expected to announce tentative agreement with Stellantis to end labor strike. CNBC. https://www.cnbc.com/2023/10/28/uaw-strike-stellantis-union-negotiators-agree-to-terms-of-a-deal.html

Domonoske, C. (2023, October 4). Why this fight is so personal for the UAW workers on strike. NPR. https://www.npr.org/2023/10/04/1202625396/uaw-strike-big-three-ford-unions#:~:text=The%20UAW%20is%20demanding%20pay,big%20reason%20for%20the%20strikes