{"id":3142,"date":"2022-08-02T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-08-02T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uniontrack.com\/blog\/?p=3142"},"modified":"2022-12-19T16:34:56","modified_gmt":"2022-12-19T16:34:56","slug":"demographics-of-the-new-labor-movement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uniontrack.com\/blog\/demographics-of-the-new-labor-movement","title":{"rendered":"The Changing Face of Labor: Demographics of the New Labor Movement"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Ken Green
CEO & Founder
UnionTrack<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Workers across the U.S. have had enough, and they are making sure their employers know it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAmerica is in the midst of a dramatic labor resurgence,\u201d writes Faiz Shakir<\/a>, founder of the advocacy journalism organization More Perfect Union. Driven by the pandemic, backed by the general public and supported by a pro-labor administration, workers are banding together and taking collective action against unfair labor practices and deteriorating working conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such activism is a revitalization of a movement that has been dormant or declining for years. \u201cIt\u2019s a moment unlike any for working people in decades,\u201d says Larry Rifkin<\/a>, creator of America Trends podcast. And that moment is increasingly being defined by young professionals rather than older trades workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Younger Workers Are Driving Unionization Efforts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Young workers are now the face of the modern labor movement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYounger workers are joining unions at a historic rate,\u201d writes Brenda Alvarez<\/a>, senior writer and editor at the National Education Association. Supporting this assertion is data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics that shows that the percentage of workers between ages 25-34 who are union members rose from 8.8 percent in 2019<\/a> to 9.4 percent in 2021<\/a>. That increase is significant because, in the past, young workers have been less likely than older workers to join unions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An example of this is the organizing efforts at Starbucks. The younger generations of baristas, some in their teens, are spearheading successful union drives at Starbucks locations across the country. Even at their young age, these workers have recognized that the power of the collective is the best way to bring about change in the workplace, and they are taking actions to unionize their workplaces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s frustrating when they call us partners, but then they don\u2019t really listen to us or they don\u2019t respect us as partners, as equals,\u201d says Ella Clark<\/a>, one of the youngest organizers with Starbucks Workers United (SWU). \u201cUs forming a union is us trying to hold Starbucks accountable to that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Is Motivating Them To Unionize?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

After decades of declining memberships, unions are seeing a resurgence of support by the younger generations of workers. These are people who were raised during the economic instability of the Great Recession and grew up in the era of heightened awareness of social issues. That has contributed to their determination to improve their circumstances and the world around them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor them, economic insecurity is very real, and the economic power that collective bargaining can give them is very tangible,\u201d writes the editorial board at York Dispatch<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey’ve seen opportunities for their generation disappear and are afraid they are going to be worse off than their parents,\u201d says Kate Bronfenbrenner,<\/a> senior lecturer and director of Labor Education Research at Cornell University. \u201cThey look around and see who is doing something, and they see the labor movement.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They also recognize the power of the collective to bring about changes in their workplaces and society as a whole that would help ensure their economic security in the future. \u201cYoung workers are recognizing that we need to do something to protect ourselves and to fight for our values,\u201d says Joe Thompson<\/a>, another one of the young organizers with SWU. \u201cThe world we are living in is falling apart. And we can change that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"graduating<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

College-Educated, Professional Workers Are Leading the Organizing Charge<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Other key traits of the people behind the new labor movement are that they are more educated than older union members and hold more white-collar jobs. Unions have traditionally been associated with trades workers such as carpenters, painters, and autoworkers. That is quickly changing, however, as college-educated, professional workers experience workplace injustices and take action against them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The New Generation of Pro-Union Workers Have More Education<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Blinded by illusions that higher education equates to better jobs with higher pay in the workplace, degreed workers have long been on the fringes of the labor movement. That is changing, however, as they become disillusioned by their economic reality. \u201cYoung people with college degrees employed in rapidly growing sectors of the U.S. economy like technology are also turning to unions,\u201d explains Sharon Johnson<\/a> in an article for The Progressive Magazine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, data from the Economic Policy Institute shows that the overall percentage of union members with a bachelor\u2019s degree or higher rose from 42 percent in 2017<\/a> to 46.5 percent in 2021<\/a>. Why this demographic shift?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Noam Scheiber<\/a>, workplace and labor reporter at The New York Times, attributes this change to a number of different factors:<\/p>\n\n\n\n