The number of worker walkouts for 2023 is climbing at a higher pace than the year before, even after President Joe Biden’s pro-union rhetoric and agenda.
There were 20 active walkouts involving more than 1,000 workers in 2023 as of August, while there were only 18 during the same time period in 2022, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Biden pledged to be “the most pro-union president you’ve ever seen” the night before the 2020 presidential election, and he created a task force in April 2021 to investigate how the federal government could increase union membership. (RELATED: Autoworkers Strike Imperils ‘Union Joe’ Biden’s 2024 Election Prospects)
“The UAW strike and indeed the ‘summer of strikes’ is the natural result of the Biden administration’s ‘whole of government’ approach to promoting unionization at all costs,” Suzanne Clark, president of the Chamber of Commerce, said in a Friday statement. “For the 94% of American private sector workers not in a union, the costs are starting to stack up — from increasing consumer costs — now for new cars — to sudden loss in business for those in related industries like auto suppliers, restaurants and caterers whose customers are now on strike.”
The United Auto Workers (UAW) announced a partial strike Thursday for workers at three plants after negotiations failed to create a new contract with the Big Three automakers — Ford, General Motors and Stellantis — by the Sept. 14 deadline. The union plans to have more workers join the strike over time if the parties continue to not reach a deal on a new contract.
Autoworkers helped create America’s middle class.
They deserve a contract that sustains them in the middle class. pic.twitter.com/cBe0sIP1AT
— President Biden (@POTUS) September 16, 2023
The Writers Guild of America has been on strike since May, demanding base and residual pay increases while also seeking job protections from artificial intelligence technology. SAG-AFTRA, which represents 160,000 actors, joined the striking writers in July seeking similar demands, resulting in the first duel work stoppage for studios in 63 years.
There were 4.1 million missed days of work in August across striking employees in large stoppages, according to The Wall Street Journal. The number of days missed was the biggest in 23 years.
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters narrowly avoided a strike for its 340,000 delivery drivers working at the United Parcel Service in July after the union reached a contract agreement just days before their July 31 expiration date.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request to comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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