ANALYSIS: Union Strike Activity Continues Measured Slowdown

Unions called just over 100 strikes in US workplaces in the first half of the year, continuing a downturn in picketing activity that began in 2024, according to Bloomberg Law labor data.

The total of 103 work stoppages initiated by unions makes H1 2025 the lightest half-year period for strikes since H2 2021. That was when front-line and furloughed workers adversely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and economic lockdown began to flex their bargaining power, triggering a wave of strikes in the hard-hit food service sector and other industries.

In 2022 and 2023, workers were striking at ...