By Ahiza García-Hodges -
NBC News
After 19 months of having to balance between their health and safety working on the front lines in the coronavirus pandemic,
many low-paid employees are fed up
: they are demanding higher pay, lunch and rest breaks, better benefits and more shifts. short.
From healthcare to Hollywood,
nearly 100,000 workers are on strike in the United States,
or preparing to
strike
to improve their conditions.
More than 10,000 John Deere employees went on strike Thursday
, and more than 24,000 Kaiser Permanente healthcare professionals and nearly 60,000 Hollywood workers, members of the International Alliance of Theater Stage Employees, are preparing to stop as well.
They join thousands of others who have recently faced a similar decision, including employees at the Kellogg plant, who are unemployed, and those at Nabisco, who recently ended a multi-week strike.
John Deere and Kellogg's Workers Demand Better Working Conditions
Oct. 14, 202101: 49
"We've definitely seen a rebound in late September and October,"
said Johnnie Kallas, a researcher at the Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations, or ILR, who tracks labor stocks across the country.
“It is a combination of two factors: workers have more influence in the labor market with employers needing and struggling to hire, and also many people have been on the front lines of a global pandemic for the last 19 months and were touted as heroes. , which has given them a lot of advantage ”, he added.
[Labor strikes in major companies complicate the shortage of products in the country]
As the term
striketober
(a combination of the words strike and October in English) appears on the internet and on social media, it is clear that momentum is growing around these actions.
Kallas said
174 work stoppages had been documented as of Tuesday this year
.
The ILR classifies a strike as any action by workers that leads to the stoppage of work.
The John Deere strike brings the total to 175.
The simultaneous activism by employees is known as a “strike wave,” said Kate Bronfenbrenner, ILR director of labor education research.
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"Strikes can be contagious for unions and workers," he
explained.
"There are shared problems that push them to go out of business and they look at each other and get inspired," he added.
In the history of the United States, there have been many waves of strikes when working conditions reached a certain threshold and wage earners refused to accept them further.
[Uber and Lyft drivers strike for better working conditions]
"You have to learn these lessons over and over again," Bronfenbrenner said.
In many cases, the pandemic has given workers time to rethink their priorities, and the time away from work has given them a renewed perspective.
In others, it
was a stark reminder that they were risking their lives for little reward.
"COVID-19 was a wake-up call, because it wasn't just that you could be injured during your work, but that going to work could kill you," Bronfenbrenner said.
"Employees have the feeling of working more than ever, being exposed during COVID-19 and risking their lives for what?" He
questioned.
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Catherine Fisk, who specializes in labor and employment law and is a professor at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, agreed.
“In the realm of low wages, these workers were essential.
They faced high death rates, but couldn't afford housing or healthcare, ”Fisk said.
"Now there is this activism born of despair," he lamented.
Fisk said that
social media has contributed to efforts by democratizing communication and helping workers
not only spread their messages, but also tap into the reach of the companies they work for and solicit consumer support.
The media is paying more attention to wealth inequalities and linking them to low labor standards and precarious wages, he said.
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"That attention allows and in some cases empowers workers to use it to try to gain influence in the political sphere," Fisk said.
More strikes are likely between now and the fall of next year
, which will coincide with the midterm elections, said Tim Schlittner, communications director for the AFL-CIO.
[The country's annual inflation rises to 5.4% in the month of September]
“This wave has been a long time coming.
I think it will move to the midterm elections because the salaried workers are also fed up with the political system, which does not offer results, "said Schlittner.
"
Workers are going to look for candidates who are aligned with their values,
including the right to organize,
" he stressed.
That is where the Law for the Protection of the Right to Organize, or PRO Law, could come into play according to him.
This law was passed by the House of Representatives, but has stalled in the Senate.
Experts say that it exerts a unique pressure on companies.
Kellogg's cereal plant worker Michael Shlee strikes outside the factory's main entrance on Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2021, in Omaha, Nebraska.
Their sign reads: "They are greedy." Grant Schulte / AP
Bronfenbrenner commented that the PRO Act, along with continued public scrutiny, could deter companies from taking extreme measures against strikes.
His bad behavior would give the law the ammunition it needs to pass, something most employers don't want.
He added that
unions and workers faced a major setback during the Donald Trump Administration
, but that things have already changed under President Joe Biden.
She noted that the National Labor Relations Board has been more aggressive in enforcing the National Labor Relations Law, cracking down on employers who try to intimidate workers to prevent them from declaring themselves unemployed.
That kind of support can serve to encourage them, he said.
Schlittner added: “No worker wants to go on strike.
They are out of necessity, for refusing to conform.
It is a tremendous sacrifice to leave your job along with the salary and security that comes with it
.
It is an act of courage to go on strike ”.