With Scores of Union Contracts Expiring, 2021 Can Be a Year of Mass Solidarity
A wave of collective bargaining agreements are set to expire across the public and private sector this year. It will be a perfect opportunity to build class consciousness — and for labor to show the unorganized why it’s so important to have a union.
People gather at a post office to protest the Trump administration’s handling of the US Postal Service on August 22, 2020 in Los Angeles, California. (Rich Fury / Getty Images for MoveOn)
The labor movement’s pundits and prognosticators ring in the New Year like commentators anywhere. They make pronouncements about what will happen and what should happen to revitalize the shrinking US trade union movement.
At 6.3 percent density in the private sector, US unions aren’t even treading water; we are drowning. That makes it more imperative than ever to engage members to strengthen connections between our union struggles and build broader public support.
The best opportunity to involve union members in 2021 will be through the large-scale collective bargaining agreements that are due to expire this year. Economic struggles remain the center of gravity for the US working class and its organized members in particular. An analysis of the collective bargaining calendar points us in the direction of where those struggles are most likely to occur.
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