Why are there so many strikes in the US?
In the U.S., it's a summer of strikes, with one professor saying workers are experiencing an 'unusual moment of leverage.' Angela Johnston explains why. - REUTERS
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00:00 It's a summer of strikes in the United States.
00:07 From UPS workers on the verge to Hollywood writers and actors like Susan Sarandon.
00:20 Workers are demanding better pay, working conditions and LGBT rights.
00:25 But why are so many of them demanding it now?
00:30 The world's largest delivery company, UPS, could see some 340,000 drivers, package handlers
00:37 and loaders in the U.S. head on strike in a matter of days.
00:44 That could roil supply chains and hurt the economy.
00:48 The Teamsters represented workers contract expires at the end of July.
00:53 But union head Sean O'Brien has said time is on the union's side.
00:56 We're in a position of strength and leverage.
00:59 And we've got the strongest weapon in our tool case.
01:04 That's the 340,000 rank and file members that go to work every single day.
01:09 Meanwhile, Hollywood is grappling with strikes by writers and actors.
01:14 And thousands of workers at major companies such as Starbucks, McDonald's and aerospace
01:19 linchpin Spirit Aerosystems have either gone on strike or protested what they describe
01:24 as unfair labour practices.
01:27 There's more looming.
01:29 Union contracts for 150,000 autoworkers at General Motors, Ford and Chrysler parents
01:34 Delantis expire in September.
01:37 Cornell University research suggests more people have gone on strike this year compared
01:42 to all of 2022.
01:44 Kathy Creighton is the director of its School of Industrial and Labour Relations.
01:49 And when you look at who is striking, you see some trends.
01:53 You see in some cases essential workers who worked during the pandemic who are kind of
02:02 fed up.
02:03 Sharon Block is a professor at Harvard Law School.
02:06 But we are at a moment of an unusually tight labour market, a very resiliently tight labour
02:14 market.
02:15 And I think that sends a signal to workers that they have an unusual, certainly over
02:20 the past few decades in this country, an unusual moment of leverage to exercise some power
02:28 on behalf of what they see as getting a fair deal.
02:34 Texas' multiple polls have shown that the public supports unions and working people
02:39 want to be in them.
02:41 And organizers are doing what they can to keep it that way, with events like this barbecue
02:46 near an Amazon warehouse.
02:48 Here's organizer Chris Smalls.
02:50 Right now there's a lot of strikes going on in the country.
02:53 And labour is really rising as far as people getting involved.
02:57 But we still got a long way to go.
03:00 It's good to see all the stuff happening over the summer.
03:05 But we know that this is just a long fight that's just getting started.
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