What Do the Election Results Mean for Unions?

In the wake of the 2024 Presidential election, the regulatory environment and governmental organizations including the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and Office of Labor Management Standards (OLMS) are likely to be weakened if not dismantled in the next four years.  For those reasons, the American labor movement should focus their collective mind on preparing for an offensive agenda, strategy, and tactics. The Biden administration's pro-labor stance has contributed to an uptick in union activity across sectors including strikes by 75,000 members of The Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions (CKPU), 50,000 members of the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) at the East and Gulf Coast ports and 33,000 members of the International Association of Machinists at Boeing to name a few. 

Recent high profile union organizing drives have demonstrated that there is a growing appetite for unionization among workers seeking better working conditions, fair pay, and a voice in their workplaces. Also, families have been suffering due to inflation and a tough economic outlook. As a result we’ve seen organizing across various industries including non-profits, media, education, retail, and entertainment. Despite the fact that union activity has gained significant momentum in terms of strikes and organizing, overall representation numbers continue to decline. Amidst the historically high approval rate for unions,  a mere 10.3% of the overall U.S. workforce is a member of a union. This imbalance underscores the headwinds unions face, the weakness of our organizing infrastructure, and the urgency we should feel to advance the relevancy of the union movement.

Therefore, our most urgent priorities must be intensifying organizing drives in both traditional and emerging industries, holding Democratic and Republican politicians accountable for pro-labor policies, and modernizing union strategies to engage younger workers. Unions are clearly doing the first well, but badly failing at the latter two. Our winning aspiration and target for the next two to four years must be to restore private-sector union density from 6% to 8.1%, echoing levels last seen in 2003, by passing the PRO Act or similar legislation. Secondly, we must revive public sector organizing by changing laws in the states hardest hit by anti union legislation including Michigan, Wisconsin, and Indiana. We must also organize in the the heart of the South in North Carolina, Tennessee, and Georgia. 

Lastly, the labor movement must overcome its apprehension about technology and invest in virtual union organizing. It's the only way we will empower young workers to connect with each other for the purpose of organizing unions. By responding positively to the momentum they have built, the labor movement will position itself to reshape the economy for working people, regardless of the political climate and in preparation for a more friendly regulatory environment.