Roughly 453,000 workers nationwide have gone on strike so far in 2023, including more than 75,000 workers at major nonprofit health organization Kaiser Permanente, according to an Oct. 9 report from CNBC.
Several other major organizations have seen employee strikes in 2023, including the Writers Guild of America and the United Auto Workers, the latter of which is still on strike.
Employees are striking to insist on better wages and better working conditions on the heels of the COVID-19 pandemic.
So far in 2023, there have been 312 recorded strikes involving a total of 453,000 workers, up from 180 strikes involving 43,700 workers in the same period two years ago.
"This is a pretty considerable uptick relative to the rest of the 21st century," Johnnie Kallas, a PhD candidate at Ithaca, N.Y.-based Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations, and the project director of the ILR Labor Action Tracker, told CNBC. "Strikes can often be contagious."
Strikes indicate that workers want higher wages, especially as the price of living has soared since the COVID-19 pandemic. Purchasing power is on the decline for average workers, and it's cutting into savings abilities for employees.
Other striking employee concerns include staffing shortages, retirement benefits, healthcare and workplace health and safety.
"Pay is a big issue but it’s not the only issue. For many of these workers, especially in unionized settings, it’s the first contract they’ve negotiated since the beginning of the pandemic," Mr. Kallas said. "A lot has changed."