Year of the Strike: Labor Movements that Defined 2023

SAG-AFTRA, UAW and healthcare workers shaped this year with the strikes they sparked across the country. Credit: Phil Roeder via Flickr

2023 has been dubbed the “Year of the Strike” after back-to-back historic labor strikes made waves this year. The most notable of this bunch were the healthcare industry, the Screen Actors Guild - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) and the United Automobile Workers (UAW). 

Healthcare

As of Nov. 28, there’s been a total of 27 healthcare strikes in 2023. One of them was the largest healthcare strike in U.S. history. 

Healthcare workers have expressed dissatisfaction regarding staffing shortages, underpayment, inadequate working conditions as well as feelings of burnout due to the pandemic. 

Kaiser Permanente, a nonprofit healthcare company, was hit by their workers when they produced the biggest healthcare strike in the history of this country. 

Beginning Oct. 4, the strike included 75,000 workers of the nonprofit across California, Colorado, Washington and Oregon. Lab technicians, nursing staff, receptionists and more were part of the historic strike. 

The strike ended after three days on Oct. 6. The new contract includes a 21% increase in pay over the span of the next four years to help keep the current workers. 

SAG-AFTRA

The Screen Actors Guild - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) has undergone the longest ever actors strike against the film and TV studios in Hollywood this past year. It started on July 14. 

This union oversees 160,000 workers in the entertainment industry. The workers went on strike for better working conditions and pay - like many of the other causes for the strikes. It also had a bone-to-pick with the occurring use of artificial intelligence within the industry. 

“All actors and performers deserve contract language that protects them from having their identity and talent exploited without consent and pay,” Fran Drescher, the national president of the SAG-AFTRA and actress, said in an open letter to the members. 

In addition to this strike, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) helped start this chain reaction with their own strike that began on May 2 and ended Sept. 27. This strike stopped the production of television shows like “Abbott Elementary,” “Stranger Things” and late night shows like Jimmy Fallon’s and Stephen Colbert’s. 

The strike ended on Nov. 8 and with the new deal with the studios, 86% of the board approved of it. An increase in the minimum wage for actors and streaming residuals is on the horizon for the actors.  

United Automobile Workers

The United Automobile Workers (UAW) also led a massive strike this year.

The strike started on Sept. 15 with about 13,000 UAW striking over the expiration of the previous contract the union had with the “Big Three:” Stellantis, Ford and General Motors (GM). 

It led to 40,000 of the 146,000 UAW members walking off the job to strike.

“Audacious,” is the word Shawn Fain, the president of the UAW, called the demands from the members, but stood with them on the basis of obtaining these demands. 

Some of these demands include scrapping the two-tiered wage structure, reinstating annual cost of living adjustments, four-day work weeks, 32 hours of work with 40 hours of pay and more.

Experts - one being a director of labor studies at Cornell University - told CBS that these workers shouldn’t hold their breaths on some of the things they’re asking for like pension plans. Nonetheless, the UAW members kept striking and on Oct. 30, the UAW strike officially ended. 

Part of the win was “Pay for veteran workers will rise by 33% and GM will give $2,500 in five payments to retirees through 2028,” per Reuters. 

Additionally, for GM, the new contract will cost them $7 billion over the next 4.5 years in higher labor costs along with Ford saying they would add $850-$900 per vehicle in labor costs. 

With more in stock for the UAW members, it was a strike worth fighting for in the end due to the slew of updates and upgrades to the system, benefitting the workers who’ve been left in the dark for over a decade.