Understanding the tactics and motivations behind the current uptick in union organizing and strike activity provides important insights for all employers as they develop their own positions toward unions and unionization in this new labor relations climate. Given the impact of COVID-19 on service workers (including in retail and hospitality) and the overall tightness of the national labor market, union organizing, and strike activity will likely only accelerate during the remainder of 2022 and 2023.

This article will highlight several of the trends that are most important for employers to be aware of so that employers can effectively respond to a potential organizing campaign, including: quantifying the substantial increase in union organizing and strike activity, particularly in retail and hospitality; exploring the growing social, political and ideological nature of bargaining demands made by unions (today it’s more than just better pay); and explaining the role that federal labor policy, particularly NLRB decisions and rulemakings revisiting decades of precedent, is playing in supporting union organizing activity.

The State of Labor Organizing and Strike Activity