Labor's Dark And Stormy Night

"It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents-except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind..."* - opening of 2025 for American unions.

It doesn’t seem to matter what party is in power.

The state of organized labor has not seemed particularly auspicious in recent years, and it was certainly not auspicious on Labor Day 2025.

Reuters reported that U.S. labor union membership slipped to a record low in 2024. The union membership rate was 9.9% in 2024, down from 10.0% in 2023. The number of wage and salary workers belonging to unions dropped by approximately 169,000 workers to 14.3 million in 2024. The drop was blamed largely on losses in manufacturing.

Meanwhile, a recent Gallup poll showed that 68% of American adults approve of labor unions, which is essentially unchanged from last year, though lower than the record high of 75% in 1953.

Although Trump has claimed his tariff policy will boost manufacturing and jobs, AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler described the state of working people as “under attack” by the Trump administration.

In her annual address, she said Trump is prioritizing corporate interests over workers. Shuler called Trump’s actions, as opposed to his pro labor rhetoric, a "big betrayal… a government that is by, and for, the CEOs and billionaires."

The AFL-CIO stated on its website: “Workers deserve freedom, fairness and security that comes with a union. Labor will be out in force on Labor Day weekend 2025.” Shuler said unions were holding about 1,000 rallies and other events across the United States to kick off a year of mobilization.

In a statement issued by the White House, Trump says he has created more than a half-million new jobs since he took office - all in the private sector - and employment for native- born Americans grew by 2.4 million. He said wages for blue-collar Americans are up 1.4% over last year.

NLRB

Meanwhile, after years of organizing efforts, Starbucks Workers United, representing over 12,000 baristas at more than 550 unionized stores in the U.S., has yet to secure a contract. The union filed unfair labor practices against Starbucks that are indefinitely stalled before the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

As of Wednesday, there was only one member on the five-member NLRB, the federal agency that protects labor rights. That is two members short of a quorum. Thus, the NLRB can’t rule on unfair labor practice cases or representation elections or issue new regulations.