Diverse Workforce Reaps Benefits of Strikes as Contracts Kick In

Workers are beginning to see the wins that the swell of strikes in 2023 produced, as pay raises and other benefits uplift a broader population of jobholders than in decades past.

Labor activism fueled by post-pandemic resentment boiled over in 2023, with more than a half million people walking off the job, according to Bloomberg Law’s database of work stoppages. The US Department of Labor recorded 4.5 million lost workdays in October due to strikes, the highest in 40 years.

The beneficiaries of these new collective bargaining agreements are also increasingly diverse. Women and people of color are unionizing at ...