Los Angeles municipal workers staged a one-day strike that disrupted or shut down a wide range of city services, from trash pickup to public pools, animal shelters, and parking enforcement. They accused the city of bad-faith bargaining and of perpetuating a recruitment and retention crisis, which they say has led to excessive overtime and vacancy rates as high as 40% in some departments.

Employer: City of Los Angeles

Union: SEIU Local 721

Strike length: 1 day

Workers: 11,000

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, almost 90 unions representing health care workers have gone on strike. The latest of these is ongoing in New Brunswick, New Jersey, where nurses at the Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital are fighting to end chronic understaffing.

Employer: RWJBarnabas Health

Union: United Steelworkers Local 4-200

Strike length: Ongoing

Workers: 1,700

The Teamsters, under president Sean O’Brien, assumed a militant posture in their contract negotiations with UPS, threatening a strike that would have been the largest against an individual employer in US history. In late July, they won a tentative agreement that includes massive wage increases, especially for part-time workers, and an end to tiered employment.

Employer: UPS

Union: Teamsters

Negotiation length: 4 months

Workers: 340,000