Delivery drivers at a US Foods facility near Chicago won big by leveraging “protection rights” contract provisions. These provisions, which are included in many Teamster contracts and prevent workers from being forced to cross picket lines, meant that the Chicagoland drivers could picket other US Foods plants and effectively shut them down. The result was a rolling nationwide strike that secured significant wage and benefit increases.

• Employer: US Foods Unions

• Teamsters Local 705

• Strike length: 18 days

• Number of workers: 130

When Macy’s workers in northwest Washington went on strike last November, management was ready with out-of-state scabs. This January, they caught the bosses by surprise, launching an indefinite unfair-labor-practice strike with support from 20,000 consumers who pledged to boycott the chain. The action won workers raises, retaliation protections, and an end to the company’s efforts to revoke the Martin Luther King Jr holiday.