Strikes have been a major avenue to unionization in the U.S. Over the century, the situational power of workers and employers as well as legislation regarding strikes has shifted. The latter shaped when, under which circumstances, and even if strikes could be conducted. Before the New Deal, when there was little protective labor legislation, it was mainly craft workers who had the power to successfully strike and to unionize. With Depression-era worker unrest, the National Labor Relations Board was established in 1935, giving private-sector semi-skilled and unskilled workers the right to organize and to strike. Likewise, the Presidential Executive Order of 1962 granted federal public workers the right to organize, and the subsequent passage of state-level legislation gave state and municipal workers the right to organize and sometimes the right to strike. With this, workers in manufacturing and in the public sector struck often and unionized. During the latter half of the 20th century, workers’ legal right to strike eroded and unions’ contractual obligations increasingly constrained their use of the strike. Consequently, strikes became less successful and drastically declined. Unionization rates fell concurrently. Very recently, however, there has been some small recovery in workers’ willingness to strike and their ability to win, as demonstrated by the recent UC academic workers’ strike.  

Light lunch will be served.