California Is Becoming the Labor Unrest Capital of America

California’s summer of labor unrest shows no signs of slowing down.

On Tuesday, Service Employees International Union, the health care workers union representing 85,000 workers, threatened to strike later this month, as members rallied outside Kaiser Permanente medical centers across California. A majority of the union’s employees are based in California.

This would be the latest in a recent string of strikes that have taken the Golden State by storm and includes Los Angeles municipal employees, dockworkers, Hollywood writers and actors, even housekeepers, The New York Times reported.

In California alone, roughly 37,000 workers have walked out since May 1, John Kallas, a PhD student at Cornell University who heads the Cornell-ILR Labor Action Tracker, told the Times.

But as labor unrest in the state continues to grow, so do labor victories. The International Longshore and Warehouse Union, representing more than 22,000 dockworkers, and the Pacific Maritime Association, which covers 29 ports and employers from California to Washington State, ratified a new agreement Friday, after more than a year of tense negotiations.

While the terms were not made public, it was reported in June that the deal could raise employee pay by 32% through 2028 and give dockworkers a slice of a one-time $70 million payment.

A recent meeting between striking Hollywood writers and major studio executives, however, was a bust. After the meeting, the Writers Guild said that the studios' plan from the start was "not to bargain, but to jam us. It is their only strategy – to bet that we will turn on each other." 

The dual writers and actors strike has reportedly cost California’s economy $5 billion since writers took to the picket line in May. The actors joined them in mid-July.

Labor movements have seen growing strength across the country this year, as workers become emboldened by stagnating wages, threats to their jobs from artificial intelligence and a tight labor market.

According to Cornell's tracker, more than 200,000 U.S. workers were on strike in July, compared to 80,000 a year before.

The United Auto Workers union, which represents roughly 400,000 auto workers in the U.S. and Canada, is poised to strike on Sept. 15 if its demands aren’t met by the “Big Three” Detroit auto companies. Such a widespread job action could cost the U.S. economy over $5.6 million in just 10 days, according to a report by the Anderson Economic Group.