Strikes in the US Up Over 50 Percent in 2022

The number of labor strikes in the US increased by 52 percent in 2022, according the latest Cornell-ILR Labor Action Tracker Annual Report. The researchers documented 424 work stoppages (417 strikes and seven lockouts) involving approximately 224,000 workers in 2022. The total number of work stoppages increased from 279 to 425 over 2021.

Workers in the food and hospitality industry, primarily Starbucks workers with Workers United and fast food workers with the Fight for $15 campaign, organized the most work stoppages in 2022 (144) of any sector, accounting for over a third of all strikes. However, these work stoppages involved just 7,000 workers, less than 3 percent of the total workers involved in work stoppages last year. The majority of all workers involved in work stoppages came from the education sector. Roughly a third of strikes in 2022 were organized by non-unionized workers, according to the report.