2023 has been the year of the strike, from the healthcare industry to Hollywood. Unions are demonstrating their determination to go to the streets in order to obtain the contracts, benefits, and working conditions they desire for their members, despite the fact that their membership has been falling over time.
More than 459,500 workers have participated in at least 318 strikes this year, according to research from Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations (ILR).
The United Auto Workers strike against the three major automakers, the simultaneous strikes by the unions representing writers and actors that halted production on new TV shows and films, and the three-day strike by 75,000 healthcare workers against Kaiser Permanente are a few of the prominent strikes in 2023.
Lend a hand as we bolster age discrimination laws across the board. Get your AARP membership right away for $12 when you enroll in Automatic Renewal. John Kallas, project director of the ILR Labor Action Tracker says:
“I think that a main reason there are so many strikes this year is that many of the unionized workers on strike are negotiating their first contract since the beginning of the pandemic, While many of the issues that workers are striking over certainly existed before 2020, they have been exacerbated by the pandemic and other economic impacts.”
Senior citizens make up a large portion of the workers who have reacted. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports that in 2022, those aged 45 and over made up 37.8% of all union membership.
Here are five key facts regarding elder employees and unions.
1. The Number of Striking Workers Has Soared This Year
ILR statistics indicate that in 2023, twice as many people participated in strikes as they did in 2018. With two months left in the year, more than 459,500 workers had participated in a strike as of October. In 2022, 224,000 individuals participated in strikes, compared to 141,000 in 2021.
2. The Number of Union Members Has Been Declining
There were 17.7 million union members in 1983, the earliest year for which the BLS had comparable data, making up 20.1 percent of all employees at that time. There will be 14.3 million jobs in 2022. That means that only 10.1 percent of workers last year were members of a union, the lowest percentage on record, despite the fact that the entire population has increased substantially since 1983.
For access to additional factual information, please refer to the provided post below:
- The Mysteries of Space: 10 Fascinating Space-related Facts
- Discovering Nicaragua: 10 Intriguing Facts About This Central American Gem
3. Older Workers Are the Largest Share of Union Members
In 2022, the majority of union members were over 45. One-fourth of union members (14%) were between the ages of 45 and 54, one-third (13%) were between the ages of 55 and 64, and one-third (10%) were above the age of 65.
4. Local Government Typically Employs the Highest Share of Union Members
Unions are common in the fields of teaching, law enforcement, and firefighting, and local governments often pay these employees.
According to BLS data from 2022, this translates to 38.8% of city government employees being union members. 24.9 percent of state government employees and 24.4 percent of federal employees were union members, respectively.
5. Most Workers Are Concerned About the Decline in Union Membership
61 percent of respondents to a Pew Research Center survey on unions in April thought the long-term drop in the proportion of workers represented by unions is bad for working people. The decrease in union membership, according to 58% of respondents, is harmful to the nation.
I hope that you find it to your liking. Please continue to follow Thegeofacts.com for further developments.
Leave a Reply