‘Striketober’ signals ‘tremendous sacrifice’ — but workers say it has been a long time coming – By Ahiza García-Hodges (NBC News) / Oct 14 2021
“A lot of these workers have been on the front line of a global pandemic for the past 19 months and were touted as heroes, which has given them lots of leverage,” said one labor expert.
After 19 months of balancing their health and safety working the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic, many low-wage workers have had enough. They’re demanding increased wages, meal and rest breaks, better benefits and shorter shifts. From health care to Hollywood, nearly 100,000 U.S. workers are either striking or preparing to strike to improve working conditions.
More than 10,000 John Deere workers went on strike Thursday, and more than 24,000 health care workers at Kaiser Permanente and about 60,000 Hollywood workers, members of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, are preparing to strike. They join thousands of other workers who have recently faced a similar decision, including Kellogg plant workers who are on strike and Nabisco employees who recently ended a weekslong strike.
As the word “striketober” appears online and on social media, it’s clear that momentum is building.
“We’ve definitely seen an uptick in late September and October,” said Johnnie Kallas, a Ph.D. student at Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations, or ILR, who tracks labor actions across the U.S. “It’s a combination of two factors: Workers have more labor-market leverage with employers needing and struggling to hire, and then a lot of these workers have been on the front line of a global pandemic for the past 19 months and were touted as heroes, which has given them lots of leverage.”
As the word “striketober” appears online and on social media, it’s clear that momentum is building around the actions. Kallas said that as Tuesday, 174 strikes had been documented this year. The ILR classifies a strike as any time worker action leads to a stoppage of work. The John Deere strike brings the total to 175.
