Fewer strikes in 2024

Major work stoppages were down in 2024, according to a Feb. 20 report by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). BLS has produced annual reports since 1947 on what it calls work stoppages — a term that includes both strikes by workers and lockouts by employers. To make the list, a work stoppage must involve at least 1,000 workers and last at least one full weekday. 

BLS says there were 31 major work stoppages in 2024, involving a total of 271,500 workers. That’s down from 2023, when 33 major stoppages involved 458,900 workers. But 2024 strike activity was still more than any year between 2001 and 2018, a period when strikes had reached historic lows. The teachers strike wave that began in 2018 so far seems to have kicked off a new era of relatively higher strike activity.

What were 2024’s biggest strikes? Strikes can be ranked by several metrics, including the number of participants and the total lost work days. By that second metric, the Boeing machinist strike was by far the most impactful, with 1.2 million lost days of work (33,000 workers halting aircraft production for 37 days). The resulting contract raises wage 43.65% over four years, reduces mandatory overtime, and increases company retirement contributions, among other gains.

The next biggest in terms of lost work days was a seven-month strike by 3,000 Boston University graduate student workers represented by Service Employees International Union Local 509, totaling 429,000 lost work days. They were striking to win their first union contract, and they got it: a three-year deal that raises wages 70% for the lowest-paid Ph.D. students, provides 3% annual increases, and provides 14 weeks of paid child care leave.

Ranked by number of participants, three of the year’s five biggest walkouts were at public universities in California. 

The year’s top five strikes:

• 47,000 members of the International Longshore Association at ports on the East Coast and Gulf Coast from Oct. 1 to 3
• 37,000 workers represented by AFSCME Local 3299 at University of California from Nov. 20 to 21
• 33,000 Machinists union members at Boeing from Sept. 13 to Nov. 5
• 30,100 workers represented by United Auto Workers at University of California from May 20 to June 7
• 29,000 workers represented by California Faculty Association on Jan. 22

Meanwhile, the Pacific Northwest seems to have been a relative hotbed of strike activity. Of the 31 large strikes nationally in 2024, nine were in Oregon and Washington.

Top Oregon/Washington strikes:

• 33,000 members of Machinists union struck Boeing in Oregon and Washington Sept. 13 to Nov. 5
• 6,000 grad student workers represented by UAW struck University of Washington May 14
• 4,000 members of UFCW Local 555 struck Fred Meyer stores Aug. 28 to Sept. 3
• 3,000 members of Oregon Nurses Association struck Providence hospitals June 18 to 22
• 1,700 graduate student workers represented by AFT Local 3299 struck Oregon State University Nov. 12 to Dec. 9
• 1,000 members of IBEW Local 46 struck Seattle-area electrical contractors from April 11 to June 19
• 1,100 grad student workers represented by UAW struck Western Washington University May 21 to 22
• 1,100 members of SEIU Local 1199NW struck Providence hospitals in Richland and Kennewick Aug. 20 to 26
• 1,000 grocery workers represented by New Seasons Labor Union struck New Seasons Market Nov. 27

The BLS used to count strikes of all sizes, but stopped in the early 1980s. But since 2021, labor relations scholars at Cornell University and University of Illinois have worked to produce a more comprehensive database of strike activity that they call the Labor Action Tracker. They release their own annual reports too. 

According to Labor Action Tracker’s 2024 annual report, there were 356 strikes and 3 lockouts in the United States last year, involving approximately 293,000 workers. That’s down from 2023, when they counted 467 strikes and four lockouts involving approximately 539,000 workers.