Two-thirds of Americans support unions: poll

More than two-thirds of Americans support unions, according to new polling data the AFL-CIO released Tuesday.

Union support is particularly high among young Americans: 88 percent of Americans younger than 30, according to AFL-CIO data.

The public opinion research firm GBAO surveyed 1,200 registered voters between Aug. 1-8 on behalf of the AFL-CIO. Demographics were weighted and balanced to match the estimated voter registration population, with young voters, AAPI voters and union members oversampled.

The pollster reported a 2.8 percent margin of error and a 95 percent confidence level in their findings.

“Do you know how hard it is to get two-thirds of Americans to agree on anything? Let me put it another way: More Americans believe in unions than like chocolate ice cream,” AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler told union organizers and members during the organization’s inaugural “State of the Unions” address.

There have been more than 200 strikes so far in 2023, 10 times more than there were two years ago, said Shuler. She attributed the uptick in part to “corporate greed and inequality.”

The average CEO made 272 times what the average worker made in 2022, the AFL-CIO’s “Executive Paywatch” found. CEOs of S&P 500 companies received an average of $16.7 million last year, the second-highest level in history.

“It’s the power of our strikes and our unwavering unity, acting as a beacon for other workers struggling to win back the value and safety that has been slowly taken from them by their corporate overlord,” said Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) member Gabriel Kornbluh, who characterized the surge in union support as “the rebirth of a movement.”

SAG-AFTRA is on day 47 of a strike alongside the Writers Guild of America, which is on day 120 of its strike.

“‘Hot labor summer’ may be ending, but that just means we’re going to move into ‘we will win winter,’” Kornbluh continued.

Shuler also promised “we will turn out next year for President Biden in the most historic labor mobilization of our time,” noting Biden’s historic investment in infrastructure that could lead to more union jobs.

Other recent data points have found benefits to labor unions.

A Treasury Department report released Monday found unions helped raise wages and benefits for all workers, spur positive economic “spillover effects” and boost civic engagement.

The Treasury report is “the administration’s latest action to strengthen the important role of labor unions in our economy,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said.

Vice President Harris described union workers as “the backbone of America’s middle class” on Monday, saying their contributions have been historically underappreciated.

Massive strikes and contentious contract negotiations have thrust unions into the national spotlight this summer. As Labor Day approaches, there are no signs the “summer of strikes” is cooling off.

The Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions, which represents more than 85,000 health care workers in seven states and the District of Columbia, announced last Thursday that its members would vote to authorize a strike in the coming weeks. 

The health care worker strike, which could come as early as Oct. 1, would be “the largest strike of health care workers in the history of this country,” said Dave Regan, president of the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW).

Since the International Brotherhood of Teamsters ratified a new contract with UPS on last Tuesday, the coalition is currently embroiled in the largest single-employer negotiations in the country.

The United Auto Workers (UAW) union is also currently locked in high-profile contract negotiations with the Big Three automakers Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, formerly Chrysler. 

The current UAW contract expires on Sept. 14, and the union, which represents more than 400,000 active members, has been negotiating for higher pay, pensions and job security as the deadline looms.

An overwhelming majority of workers voted to authorize a strike if they don’t receive “a fair deal,” the union said last Friday.