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10 Working-Class Victories to Celebrate in 2023
From the picket lines to state houses to the White House, champions in the fight against inequality landed huge wins.
Dec 22, 2023
ooking for something positive to celebrate on New Year’s Eve? Consider lifting a glass to the hardworking people behind these inspiring victories of 2023.
1. The ‘Year of the Strike’
More than half a million American workers walked off the job this year. In October, companies lost more workdays to strikes than in any month during the past 40 years.
Big 3 auto workers, Hollywood writers and actors, Las Vegas and Los Angeles hotel staff, and Kaiser Permanente health care employees were among those who used strikes to score big bargaining table wins. For UPS drivers, the mere threat of a Teamsters strike was enough to secure historic wage hikes and safety protections.
After renewing contracts with Ford, GM, Stellantis, and UPS, the UAW and the Teamsters doubled down on efforts to organize the unorganized. The Teamsters picketed outside 25 Amazon warehouses, demanding a fair contract for unionized drivers at a California-based delivery service for the notoriously anti-union retailer. The UAW set their sights on non-unionized car companies, causing so much indigestion among Nissan, Toyota, Honda, and Hyundai executives that they immediately hiked wages for their U.S. employees.
2. Black worker organizing in the south
To move the needle on the country’s dismally low 6 percent unionization rate, the labor movement will need to make inroads in tough territory, particularly in historically anti-union southern states that have been magnets for investment.
Two union victories in 2023 are the latest proof that this goal is not impossible. The United Steelworkers won an election at a Blue Bird bus factory in Georgia with nearly 1,500 predominantly Black workers. In three Alabama cities, AT&T Mobility workers at In Home Expert hubs joined the Communications Workers of America.
3. A crack in the anti-union tech sector
The past year also saw union progress in another historically union-averse territory: the tech sector. Earlier this month, Microsoft forged an agreement with the AFL-CIO to remain neutral in organizing drives among their U.S.-based workers. This will make it easier for about 100,000 Microsoft employees to unionize, with potential ripple effects across the industry.
4. New trifecta states
In Michigan and Minnesota, pro-worker state legislators hit the ground running after Democrats won state trifectas in 2022.
Minnesota passed a blizzard of pro-labor reforms, including paid sick leave for most workers, minimum pay and benefits for nursing home staff, and wage theft protections for construction workers. Teachers will be able to negotiate over class sizes and nurses will have a greater say in staffing levels. The new laws also ban non-compete agreements and “captive audience” meetings designed to undercut union support.
This year Michigan became the first state in six decades to roll back anti-union “right-to-work” laws. They also restored a “prevailing wage” law requiring construction contractors to pay union wages and benefits on state-funded projects.
5. Cities lead the way on low-wage worker protections
The federal minimum wage for tipped workers has been stuck at $2.13 since 1991. In that vacuum, states and cities are taking action. This year, restaurant servers and other advocates in the nation’s capital successfully beat back last-ditch industry attempts to undercut a victorious 2022 ballot initiative to phase out the local subminimum tipped wage. After a multi-year, hard-fought campaign, DC’s tipped workers got their first raise this past summer, putting them on track to earn the full local minimum wage by 2027. The Chicago City Council also passed a five-year tipped wage phaseout plan, set to begin in 2024.
App-based delivery drivers in New York City had to fight back in 2023 against Uber, DoorDash, and other corporations’ efforts to block introduction of the nation’s first minimum wage for their occupation. Gig companies finally lost their legal challenges to the pay rule in late November. Delivery driver pay rose to $17.96 an hour on December 4 and will increase to $19.96 when the legislation takes full effect in 2025.
6. College campuses as labor hotbeds
Organizing among graduate and medical students continued to explode in 2023, with the highest number of union elections among these groups than in any year since the 1990s. In the first four months of 2023 alone, over 14,000 graduate students on five campuses voted to join the United Electrical union — all by margins of over 80 percent. Campuses across the country coordinated organizing efforts through a series of teach-ins and other events under the banner of Labor Spring, an initiative that will continue in 2024.
7. Stock buyback blowbackMany of the labor battles of 2023 skewered corporate executives for underpaying workers while blowing money on stock buybacks, a financial maneuver that artificially inflates CEO stock-based pay. Two precedent-setting federal policies to rein in buybacks also took effect in 2023. For the first time, corporations faced a one percent excise tax on buybacks. The Biden administration also began giving companies a leg up in the competition for new semiconductor subsidies if they agree to forgo all stock buybacks for five years. This important precedent should be expanded to all companies receiving any form of public funds.
8. Collective bargaining requirements on federally funded construction projects
With megabillions in new public investment flowing into infrastructure projects, it’s critical that the administration ensure these taxpayer dollars support good jobs. This week, Biden officials took an important step forward by finalizing regulations requiring the use of “project labor agreements” between employers and workers for large federal construction projects. The terms of these pre-hire collective bargaining agreements must cover all parties — contractors, subcontractors, and unions. This important rule should be expanded beyond construction to contractors that provide goods and other services.
9. Trashing “junk” fees
Working class Americans fork out tens of billions of dollars every year on deceptive, hidden charges that raise the cost of banking and internet services, concerts and movies, rental cars and apartments, and more. In October, President Joe Biden announced a plan to put these “junk fees” where they belong — in the trash.
Under the plan, the Federal Trade Commission aims to force companies to disclose the total price of goods and services up front and slap violators with big fines. This will mean no hidden fees — and more money in working families’ pockets.
10. NLRB rulings on Amazon and Starbucks
Anyone wondering whether our labor laws need fixing need look no further than the fact that Starbucks and Amazon have been able to get away with refusing to negotiate with workers who voted to unionize for well more than a year. (Two years for the path-breaking Buffalo, New York Starbucks workers). On the positive side, Biden appointees at the National Labor Relations Board seem to be making the most of their current authority and capacity.
In August, the labor board issued a ruling that will make union-busting harder in cases where a majority of workers have signed union cards but the employer still demands an election. Under the ruling, bosses who engage in unfair labor practices in these situations will now be forced to recognize and bargain with the union without an election.
Shep Searl of Starbucks Workers United, Chicago. Credit: Starbucks Workers United.
In the meantime, the NLRB is continuing to try to hold Starbucks and Amazon accountable for rampant labor rights violations. The board has 240 open or settled charges against Amazon in 26 states and they’ve issued more than 100 complaints against Starbucks, covering hundreds of accusations of threats or retaliation against union supporters and failure to bargain in good faith. Most recently, the NLRB ordered the reopening of 23 Starbucks cafes, alleging the company had closed them to suppress union activity, in violation of federal law.
Reflecting on 2023, Starbucks barista and union organizer Shep Searl marveled at how diverse workers, “from Teamsters to actors,” demonstrated that there are many ways to win through collective action.
“Every day, we’ve been absorbing that information and utilizing it in our mobilization and escalation plan,” Searl told Inequality.org. “We aren’t going anywhere and so much of that is inspired by the other campaigns. If we stand together, there’s no mountain we cannot climb.”
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'Biggest Ever Global Strike Against Amazon' Kicks Off on Black Friday
"This day of action grows every year because the movement to hold Amazon accountable keeps getting bigger and stronger," said the head of UNI Global Union.
Nov 24, 2023
Amazon workers and allies in dozens of countries around the world took to the streets Friday to protest the e-commerce behemoth's atrocious working conditions, low pay, union busting, tax dodging, and inaction on planet-warming emissions.
The "Make Amazon Pay" strikes and rallies coincided with Black Friday, the busiest shopping day of the year and one of Amazon's most profitable. Amazon workers across the globe—in ever-larger numbers—have been walking off the job on Black Friday for years to demand better treatment from the $1.5 trillion company.
"This day of action grows every year because the movement to hold Amazon accountable keeps getting bigger and stronger," said Christy Hoffman, general-secretary of UNI Global Union. "Workers know that it doesn't matter what country you're in or what your job title is, we are all united in the fight for higher wages, an end to unreasonable quotas, and a voice on the job."
Organizers of the worldwide demonstrations said strikes and protests are set to take place in more than 30 countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, Italy, and Bangladesh.
"From the warehouses in Coventry to the factories of Dhaka, this global day of action is more than a protest," Varsha Gandikota-Nellutla, co-general coordinator of Progressive International, said in a statement. "It is a worldwide declaration that this age of abuse must end."
"Amazon's globe-spanning empire, which exploits workers, our communities, and our planet, now faces a growing globe-spanning movement to Make Amazon Pay," Gandikota-Nellutla added.
The strikes come amid an intensifying fight between Amazon and workers at its warehouse in Coventry, England, where around 1,000 employees have joined GMB, one of the U.K.'s largest trade unions.
Amazon, which is hostile to organized labor, has expressed opposition to the union's push for formal recognition and provided Coventry workers with measly pay raises amid elevated inflation. Increasingly outraged by their treatment at the hands of one of the world's most powerful companies, the Coventry workers have held 28 days of strikes this year.
Amazon also recently beat back union drives at U.S. warehouses in Alabama and upstate New York, efforts that followed the landmark union victory at a facility in Staten Island.
Stuart Appelbaum, president of the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union—which led the Alabama organizing push—said Friday that the global day of action "underscores the urgent need for Amazon to address its egregious labor practices and engage in fair bargaining with its workers."
"Our collective actions are gaining momentum, challenging Amazon's unfair practices and advocating for workers' rights and a sustainable future for all," said Appelbaum. "Together, we can Make Amazon Pay."
A first-of-its-kind international survey of Amazon workers released by UNI Global Union earlier this year found that the company's intrusive productivity monitoring systems are harming many employees' physical and mental health, compounding the stress caused by low pay and other mistreatment.
"I feel like I'm drowning all day, causing me to drive in unsafe ways to meet the unreasonable expectation[s]," a U.S. Amazon driver told the union federation.
Amazon said in a statement that it doesn't expect Friday's strikes to impact customers and insisted it offers "great pay and benefits for our employees," despite recent research showing the company's pay is worse than that of other warehouse employers.
Amanda Gearing, a senior organizer with GMB, told the BBC that "Amazon bosses are desperate to claim it will be business as usual for Amazon and their customers this Black Friday."
"The truth is that today will see the largest day of industrial disruption in Amazon's history," said Gearing.
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Sanders Launches Senate Probe Into Amazon's 'Dangerous and Illegal' Working Conditions
"There is only one explanation for Amazon's repeated failure to protect its warehouse workers: unacceptable corporate greed," Sen. Bernie Sanders wrote to the company's CEO.
Jun 20, 2023
Sen. Bernie Sanders on Tuesday launched an investigation into the notoriously dangerous working conditions at Amazon's U.S. warehouses, writing in a letter to CEO Andy Jassy that the company's "quest for profits at all costs" has put the health and safety of tens of thousands of workers at risk.
"Amazon is well aware of these dangerous conditions, the life-altering consequences for workers injured on the job, and the steps the company could take to reduce the significant risks of injury," wrote Sanders (I-Vt.), the chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. "Yet the company has made a calculated decision not to implement adequate worker protections because Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s founder, and you, his successor as Chief Executive Officer, have created a corporate culture that treats workers as disposable."
"At every turn—from warehouse design and workstation setup, to pace of work requirements, to medical care for injuries and subsequent pressure to return to work—Amazon makes decisions that actively harm workers in the name of its bottom line," the senator continued, taking the company to task for "pushing workers past their limits" and refusing to provide adequate medical care when they are injured.
\u201cToday, I launched an investigation into Amazon's disastrous safety record. Amazon is one of the most valuable companies in the world owned by Jeff Bezos, one of the richest men in the world. Amazon should be the safest place in America to work, not one of the most dangerous.\u201d— Bernie Sanders (@Bernie Sanders) 1687276078
Sanders' probe comes weeks after a report by the Strategic Organizing Center found that Amazon warehouse workers—who are closely surveilled and held to grueling performance targets—suffered serious injuries on the job at more than twice the rate as employees at non-Amazon facilities last year, a safety risk that has helped fuel unionization efforts at the company.
The e-commerce giant has also faced growing scrutiny from federal regulators. Earlier this year, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) cited several Amazon warehouses for "failing to keep workers safe" and "exposing workers to ergonomic hazards."
In his Tuesday letter, Sanders called Amazon's warehouse conditions "dangerous and illegal" and demanded that Jassy "explain why Amazon's injury rates continue to be significantly higher than the warehouse industry average despite identification of those measures."
The senator also requested that Jassy disclose whether the company has "ever examined, internally or through a third party, the connection between the pace of work of its warehouse workers and the prevalence or cost of injuries at its warehouses."
"If Amazon can afford to spend $6 billion on stock buybacks last year, it can afford to make sure that its warehouses are safe places to work," the senator wrote. "If Amazon can afford to pay you $289 million in total compensation over the past two years, it can afford to treat all of its workers with dignity and respect, not contempt. The time has come for Amazon to stop willfully violating workplace safety laws with impunity and commit to changing its operations to protect the health and safety of its workers."
On Twitter, Sanders called on any current or former Amazon workers with experience in the company's warehouses to share their stories and "help inform the investigation."
"For tens of thousands of workers, the cost of just a few years at an Amazon warehouse is a lifetime of pain," Sanders wrote in his letter to Jassy. "My staff and I have heard concerning stories from workers around the country about the toll that working at Amazon warehouses takes on their bodies."
"Mr. Jassy," Sanders added, "there is only one explanation for Amazon's repeated failure to protect its warehouse workers: unacceptable corporate greed."
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