US Labor Is Having a Movement Moment
The successful UAW strike was the latest sign that the union movement is having a moment. Amid so much gloom in the world, US labor has emerged as an unlikely bright spot with genuine dynamism.
UAW member on a picket line outside the General Motors Co. Ypsilanti Processing Center in Ypsilanti, Michigan, on September 22, 2023.(Emily Elconin / Bloomberg via Getty Images)
It’s a good sign when it’s hard to keep track of all the different labor strikes and resulting tentative agreements.
Perhaps most notably, United Auto Workers members ratified their deals with the Big Three auto companies late last week. Coupled with the announcement of the Screen Actors Guild’s (SAG-AFTRA) tentative agreement on November 8, it seems we may have reached the end of a cycle of labor struggle that began in the early summer of 2023. (Actors have gone back to work but are still considering whether to ratify the deal.)
Now is a good time to take stock of this moment of renewed labor militancy and what it could mean for the country’s political future.
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