Labor stoppages in 2023 broke national record. How many WA workers went on major strikes?

Workers in the United States set a record in 2023 for major strikes, according to data from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The bureau reported that a total of 458,900 U.S. workers went on 33 major work stoppages last year. That was an increase of 280% from 2022, when 120,600 workers were involved in 23 stoppages in total, according to the Economic Policy Institute, and was a return to pre-pandemic levels.

According to the bureau, a major work stoppage involves 1,000 or more workers and lasts at least one shift during the work week between Monday and Friday. The bureau doesn’t distinguish between strikes and lockouts, which are initiated by management.

2023 also saw the largest number of major work stoppages since 2000, when 39 were reported, according to the bureau. Last year, the private sector saw a total of 367,800 workers involved in 25 stoppages.

There were three local government and five state government work stoppages involving a total of 91,100 workers. Here’s how Washington state fared.

WA workers went on strike

The Evergreen State contributed to the many work stoppages in 2023. Based on work stoppages data through the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were four major work stoppages based in Washington state in 2023.

Three of these were exclusively in Washington state, including the University of Washington staff through the United Auto Workers Union, PeaceHealth in Vancouver and Longview through the Oregon Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals Union, and Providence Everett through the United Food and Commercial Workers Union. Together, these three work stoppages included 5,000 employees.

Additionally, Kaiser Permanente workers went on strike in numerous states, including Washington, through the Service Employees International Union and others. A reported 75,600 workers contributed to this work stoppage, though it is unclear how many were based in Washington state.

The four stoppages lasted between three and eight days.

This does not include all of the workers who went on strike last year. Any work stoppages involving less than 1,000 employees were not included in the data, leaving out the hundreds of Washington workers involved in the Starbucks strikes and other movements.

Why did workers strike in the US?

The Economic Policy Institute found workers went on strike in efforts to improve wages, benefits and working conditions.

Motivations last year included “decades of stagnant real (inflation-adjusted) wages, erosion of health insurance or retirement benefits, long work hours, and dangerous or stressful working conditions,” the institute said.

What were some of the major work stoppages in 2023?

In 2023, more than 12,000 members of United Auto Workers went on strike for two months to reach an agreement with General Motors, Ford and Stellantis that included changes such as raises for a third of workers.

More than 75,000 health care workers with Kaiser Permanente went on the “largest recorded health care strike in U.S. history,” the Economic Policy Institute said, leading to pay raises and new hiring initiatives.

The four largest strikes of the year, accounting for 350,100 of the 539,000 workers, were the Screen Actors Guild–American Federation of Television and Radio Artists strike, the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions strike, the Los Angeles Unified School District strike, and the UAW Stand-Up Strike.

That’s according to the Labor Action Tracker, created by Cornell University and the University of Illinois, documented 470 work stoppages in 2023 — including 466 strikes and four lockouts.

That 2023 report found the number of workers involved in stoppages increased 141% to 539,000, up from 224,000 the previous year.

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