Workers are organizing at rates not seen in years — and experts say small-business owners need to be ready in 2023.
“After years of declining membership, unions are gaining representation rights for workers at unprecedented rates,” said Jerry Cutler, an attorney, author and lecturer at Columbia University and an expert on labor relations. “My perspective is that it's not temporary. It's hard to get the cat back in the bag.”
Cutler pointed out high-profile union wins at places such as Amazon.com Inc. , Starbucks Corp. , Google parent Alphabet Inc. , Microsoft Corp. and Trader Joe's brought unionization to large, multisite corporations and to big tech giants — areas where unions had previously not made much of a dent. Cutler pointed to a Gallup poll in August that found U.S. approval of labor unions climbed to 71%, up from 68% the year before and up from 64% before the pandemic — the highest level since 1965. Meanwhile, a poll by Pew Research in early 2022 found about 58% of adults say the decline over unionization was either somewhat or vey bad for the country.