ANALYSIS: Large Union Strikes Fuel Picket-Line Population Surge

As United Auto Workers leaders consider expanding the union’s strikes against the Big 3 automakers, it’s sobering to remember that only about one-fourth of UAW-represented workers at Ford, GM, and Stellantis have actually walked out so far. If all 146,000 workers were to strike, the impact would be enormous.

But here’s the thing about labor unrest in 2023: Unions are already leading historically huge numbers of workers to the picket lines as it is.

Strikes have idled more than 467,000 unionized workers so far this year, according to an analysis of Bloomberg Law’s database of work stoppages. That year-to-date total is already twice 2022’s total, four times larger than 2021’s, and eight times larger than 2020’s.

This surge can’t merely be chalked up to the fact that unions are calling more strikes. It’s true that the 263 strikes called so far this year have put 2023 on a pace for the most union-initiated work stoppages since 2005. But what’s making this year’s strikes so impactful is their size.

The average strike in 2023 (of the 263 thus far this year) involved 1,791 workers, according to Bloomberg Law data. By comparison, 2022’s total of 317 strikes—a flurry of activity dominated by more than 100 walkouts by baristas in small Starbucks locations—covered an average of only 698 workers, slightly under the overall average of 877 since 1990.

2023’s average strike size is the third-highest in the past 30-plus years. The top two averages were attained in 2018 and 2019, when a wave of teachers’ unions, some tens of thousands strong, struck entire states and metropolitan areas.

Indeed, nine of the 10 largest strikes in 2018–2019 were confined to educational settings, and they all ended within two weeks. (Bonus fact: The 10th was a six-week UAW strike against GM in 2019.)

The scope of 2023’s major strikes, by comparison, is not only high but remarkably broad. The Top 10 strikes (so far) involve a variety of unions and industries, and are lasting a month or more in some cases.

The multi-sector makeup and longer staying power of these giant strikes will make 2023 the most impactful for labor relations in years—with or without the full force of the UAW’s Detroit bargaining units thrown in.

Bloomberg Law subscribers can access, search, and run reports from the work stoppages database by using our Labor PLUS resource. Subscribers can find other labor data and content on our Labor Relations & Collective Bargaining page.

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