North Carolina’s teachers weren’t the only ones who walked out on the job en masse last year. Data released this week from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that 2019 had a higher number of “major work stoppages,” meaning strikes and lockouts, involving 1,000 or more workers than any year since 2001. The Economic Policy Institute notes that 2019 also saw the most strikes involving 20,000 or more workers than any year since 1993, when BLS first started keeping track.
Mother Jones
February 20, 2020
An analysis by Heidi Shierholz and Margaret Poydock of the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute noted that 10 of the 25 stoppages last year involved at least 20,000 workers. In a time of historically low unemployment, they argue, the increase suggests workers “know that if they are fired for strike activity, they will be more likely to find another job,” and that if the tight labor market isn’t offering enough leverage to secure higher wages, “they must join together to demand a fair share of the recovery.”
Politico
February 20, 2020
The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) report, entitled Continued Surge in Strike Activity Signals Worker Dissatisfaction With Wage Growth, noted that the spike marked “a 35-year high for the number of workers involved in a major work stoppage over a two-year period.”
“Strike activity surged in 2018, with 485,200 workers involved in major work stoppages—a nearly twentyfold increase from 25,300 workers in 2017,” according to the report, which cited data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). “The surge in strike activity continued in 2019, with 425,500 workers involved in major work stoppages.”
Common Dreams
February 20, 2020
After decades of declining strike activity, data analyzed by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) show that there was a substantial upsurge in 2018 and 2019, with 485,000 workers involved in major work stoppages in 2018 and 425,500 workers involved in major stoppages in 2019. This is the largest two-year average in 35 years.
Workday Minnesota
February 20, 2020
For decades, the decline of the American labor movement corresponded to a decline in major strike activity. But new data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, or BLS, indicates a recent and significant increase in the number of Americans who are participating in strikes or work stoppages. As a report from the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute explained on Tuesday, strike activity “surged” in 2018 and 2019, “marking a 35-year high for the number of workers involved in a major work stoppage over a two-year period.” 2019 alone marked “the greatest number of work stoppages involving 20,000 or more workers since at least 1993, when the BLS started providing data that made it possible to track work stoppages by size.” Union membership is declining, but workers themselves are in fighting shape.
New York Magazine
February 20, 2020
According to the Economic Policy Institute, 2018 and 2019 accounted for the largest two-year average of striking workers in more than three decades.
Huffington Post
February 20, 2020
The group cited a survey by the Economic Policy Institute that determined that more than half of nonunion, private-sector employers have mandatory arbitration procedures.
Winston-Salem Journal
February 19, 2020
That divide, she said, has been worsened by companies that are hostile to organized labor pressing for better wages. Employers spend almost $340 million every year hiring “union avoidance advisers” according to Economic Policy Institute estimates.
MarketWatch
February 19, 2020
“It is worth noting,” said Heidi Shierholz of the labor-backed Economic Policy Institute, “that the erosion of union coverage is not because workers don’t want unions anymore – survey data show that in fact, a higher share of nonunion workers today say they would vote for a union in their workplace than was the case 40 years ago.
“One key contributor to the decline of unions is fierce corporate opposition to union organizing. It is now standard, when workers seek to organize, for employers to hire union avoidance consultants to coordinate intense anti-union campaigns. We estimate that employers spend nearly $340 million per year hiring union avoidance advisers to help them prevent employees from organizing.”
Michigan Building and Construction Trades Council
February 19, 2020
Surprisingly, the cost of care in New York isn’t even the highest in the nation. Washington, D.C., can claim that honor, with parents paying annual child care costs of $24,243 for one infant, according to the Economic Policy Institute. In New York City, it’s $15,394 for one infant and $27,752 for two kids annually. In the least expensive state for child care, Mississippi, parents still pay $5,436 a year for one infant.
The New York Times
February 19, 2020