How US labor strikes have evolved — and why so many workers today are willing to walk out

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Today we're spotlighting a strike by just a few dozen autoworkers in the 1930s and how that affected strikes today beyond the auto industry.

WHAT’S HAPPENING

• It’s been a big year for union strikes, from Hollywood to hospitals, and from schools to Starbucks. Now auto workers have joined the club.?
• Friday, thousands of workers at all three of America’s unionized automakers — Ford, GM, and Stellantis — walked off the job. It’s a small fraction of United Auto Workers’ 145,000 members, but it’s enough to cause ripple effects in the first couple days of the strike, including planned layoffs. The economic threats extend beyond the auto industry.?
• The UAW is calling its action a “stand-up strike,” a nod to the “sit-down strikes” autoworkers tried out decades ago.

LET’S REWIND 87 YEARS

• In 1936, about 50 workers at General Motors shut down their machines at a Michigan plant. But instead of taking to the picket lines, they went on strike from inside the factory.?
• The goal was to improve working conditions at the world’s largest manufacturer. They also wanted GM to recognize the United Automobile Workers union as the bargaining agent in negotiations.
• The union had only been around about a year, but at the end of the 44-day strike, GM not only recognized the UAW as a bargaining agent for its workers, but the deal led to a burst in UAW membership and a wave of labor organizing in other industries across the US.
• Union membership peaked in 1945 with 33.4% of the workforce, compared to just 10.1% last year.

THE STATE OF LABOR NOW

• Today’s UAW strike represents just one of the industries walking off the job in recent months. One common theme is wages – they’ve been stagnant for decades among lower and middle-income workers. But corporate profits have soared in recent years, and workers want a greater piece of the profits.
• Workers also seem to have more bargaining power due to the tight labor market. Unemployment is low and employers are posting more openings than there are job seekers. That gives workers leverage to demand more of what they want.
• Unions are also enjoying their strongest public support in decades – including from the Biden administration. A Gallup survey shows the majority of Americans see unions as key to improving pay and working conditions.
• Despite the large number of strikes in the past year, the US still sees 70% fewer strikes compared to the early 1970s, according to the Economic Policy Institute, and union membership has declined as some states placed barriers against unions through “right to work” laws.?

CNN Business reporter Nathaniel Meyersohn has been covering the big picture of strikes. Dive deeper into that first UAW sit-down strike and the ways the labor movement is changing today.

What do you think of the UAW strike? How are strikes across industries affecting your job?? Share your stories in the comments.?

Here are some other stories we're following today:

Five Americans the U.S. government says were wrongly detained in Iran for years were released today as part of a broader U.S.-Iran deal. They are en route to the United States after stopping in Doha, Qatar.? Three of the Americans had been imprisoned for more than five years. The deal marks a breakthrough after years of difficult, indirect negotiations between Washington and Tehran. Under it, $6 billion in Iranian funds frozen in South Korea will be moved to monitored accounts which can be used only for humanitarian purchases. Five Iranians held in the U.S. are also being released under terms of the agreement.

The UN has revised the death toll from devastating flooding in Libya down considerably — now closer to 4,000. The UN previously reported that at least 11,300 were dead in Derna, Libya, citing the Libyan Red Crescent, but says the new numbers are verified by the World Health Organization. The agency says more than 9,000 are still missing after floodwaters a week ago swept away entire neighborhoods. The death toll has been difficult to establish as Libya is governed by two opposing administrations. Survivors have been dealing with the solemn task of digging mass graves.

Hunter Biden is suing the IRS, alleging two agents illegally released his tax information. Biden's lawsuit is centered on disclosures made by two IRS agents turned whistleblowers, including one agent's allegations in a CBS interview that the president's son took certain personal expenses as business expenses and that he owed $2.2 million in unpaid taxes. It's being filed amid a slew of other legal issues facing Hunter Biden, who was indicted by a special counsel last week on three felony gun charges.

In an unwelcome sight for consumers, gas prices spiked to their highest level of the year today as oil prices push past $92 a barrel. The national average for regular gas is $3.88 a gallon, and 11 states now average $4 a gallon or higher, according to AAA. The increase, driven by Saudi Arabia and Russia's aggressive supply cuts, threatens to undo progress in the fight against inflation.

DirecTV and Nexstar end a bitter carriage dispute that has deprived millions of viewers of key channels since July. The multiyear deal to restore more than 170 Nexstar-owned stations across the US comes one day after stations' owner added pressure to reach agreement by temporarily returning signals to DirecTV's subscribers for the second week of NFL season. Disputes over retransmission fees have become increasingly common in recent years as satellite and cable providers dig in their heels and subscribers balk at paying higher prices for TV bundles, with millions choosing to cut the cord.

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