Strike Wave Across the US Demands Better Working Conditions

Thousands of workers in the United States are on strike today for higher wages and better conditions in a labor market that is trying to recover from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

RELATED:

US Teachers Nationwide Are Leaving Their Jobs in Record Numbers

Although Hollywood film crews threatened to paralyze the U.S. film industry starting Monday, at the last minute, they reached an agreement on working conditions for technicians, but other unions continue to strike.

In the last few days, 10,000 operators of the agricultural machinery manufacturer John Deere Heavy Equipment went on strike. The unions representing 31,000 employees of the health care group Kaiser Permanente agreed to do the same in California and Oregon.

They join 1,400 workers at Kellogg's cereal company and more than 2,000 at Mercy Hospital in Buffalo, New York, who have crossed their arms since the beginning of this month.

 In addition, American Airlines pilots plan to carry out informational pickets at airports in Miami, Chicago, and Dallas for two weeks, according to CNN.

Meanwhile, 1,000 coal miners in Alabama, 700 nurses in Massachusetts, 400 whiskey manufacturers in Kentucky and 200 bus drivers in Reno, Nevada, also interrupted their activities, report journalists from The Intercept.

This wave of work stoppages led to the creation on social networks of the term "Striketober," formed by the union of the English words strike and October.

According to Cornell University's Labor Action Tracker, which tracks such actions, at least 176 strikes have begun this year in the country, including 17 in October.

Some 4.3 million Americans walked off their jobs this month because they were dissatisfied with deteriorating working conditions due to the health care crisis, including insufficient safeguards against Covid-19. 

As a result, companies struggle to find labor, while unions see the labor shortage as an advantage to demand wage increases.