by Brayden Yee
During the past few months, the US labor force saw historic levels of people leaving their jobs. The peak occurred in August when the highest number of people — almost 4.3 million — quit their jobs. The coronavirus pandemic and struggling economic recovery proved how vital frontline workers were to American daily life, and workers are realizing the power and leverage they hold from that labor.
There are many reasons why the labor shortage has increased so dramatically. Some include the people who wanted to quit before the pandemic now feeling stable enough to do so, people finding new interests and passions they want to pursue, and essential workers being tired and burnt out from poor working conditions.
Across the country, pent-up frustration from the pandemic has also resulted in workers organizing strikes demanding increased wages, meal and rest breaks, shorter shifts, and better benefits. In what is being called “Striketober”, many workers from multiple industries across the country are going on strike, stating that this has been a long time coming.
Approximately 1,400 workers from Kellogg's Cereal Plants walked out of work on October 5th when negotiations around pay and benefits reached a deadlock, more than 10,000 workers from Deere & Co. went on strike on October 14th, marking the first major strike in the agricultural machinery company in more than 30 years, more than 24,000 Kaiser Permanente health care workers have authorized a strike over pay and working conditions caused by the pandemic, and 60,000 Film and TV workers struck a deal with their employers last Saturday, October 16th, after they planned to strike.
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