Porchá Perry demonstrates with other workers in Lansing, Michigan, in favor of bills restoring local control to pass workforce and labor policies on Sept.13, 2023. A new report finds growing union organizing across the country has triggered an anti-labor legislative response in some states, but cities and counties are increasingly pushing back. (Photo courtesy of SEIU Local 1)
Union activity has seen a major increase in the last several years, most particularly in the Midwest.
According to a press release from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), from Oct. 1, 2023, to Sept. 30, 2024, 3,286 union election petitions were received by the agency, a 27% jump over FY 2023, when the NLRB received 2,593 petitions. More importantly, it was more than double the 1,638 petitions received since FY 2021.
Digging deeper into the data, it appears states in the Midwest saw an even increase in union petitions — a 138% hike — the highest percent increase of any region in the country. Breaking it down even further, Michigan saw a 160% increase in that time period, rising from 57 petitions in 2021 to 148 this year.
“The surge in cases we’ve received in the last few years is a testament to workers knowing and exercising their rights under the National Labor Relations Act and to our board agents’ accessibility and respectful engagement with them,” said NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo, who most recently visited Michigan in late July when she met unionizing workers with German-owned auto parts maker Webasto.
NLRB general counsel meets with Michigan auto parts workers organizing with UAW
At the same time, the NLRB says there was a 52% increase in unfair labor practice charges filed with the agency’s regional offices in the Midwest from FY21 to FY24, which was the highest percent increase of any region in the country. Michigan’s increase was 36%, while nationally, there was a 41% increase during the same time.
The Michigan Advance asked the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity to comment on the rise in union petitions in the state, but spokesperson Erica Quealy said the department “does not track data relevant to these trends.”
Jennifer Sherer, director of the State Worker Power Initiative with the Economic Policy Institute, a nonprofit, left-leaning think tank, told the Michigan Advance the data confirms increasing support for collective bargaining among workers.
“The steady uptick in NLRB petitions for union elections in the Midwest reflects what we are seeing across the country: the labor movement is in the midst of a resurgence and workers are organizing at a pace not seen in recent decades. Worker organizing is taking place in all sectors of the economy from health care and manufacturing to nonprofits and higher education,” said Sherer.
Sherer noted that unions have seen near record-high favorability in recent years, with the most recent polls showing that almost 70% of Americans approve of unions while a strong majority of U.S. workers in all sectors (59%) support unionization in their own workplace.
“In Michigan, there is every indication that this organizing momentum is continuing in the present. Just last month, a unit of over 9,000 nurses from Corewell Health systems across metro Detroit petitioned to hold what will be one of the largest private-sector union elections in Michigan in decades,” she said.
The increase in cases filed in the NLRB’s field offices also resulted in a rise in cases that the adjudicative side of the agency had to contend with.
In FY 2024, the NLRB issued 259 decisions — a 5% uptick from FY 2023. However, agency officials say as has been the case for the last several years, their ability to process new cases was overtaken by a significant jump in intake, ending FY 2024 with 288 pending cases, 46% more than the 197 pending cases at the end of FY 2023.
The increased workload comes as the NLRB continues to deal with funding and staffing shortages including a 50% reduction in the number of field office personnel over the past two decades.
“The NLRB’s dedicated employees have worked hard this year to process cases efficiently, but the ongoing surge in case intake continues to increase our backlog,” said NLRB Chairman Lauren McFerran. “Additional resources are necessary to enable the Board to expand staffing capacity and ensure that the workers, employers, and unions that rely on our agency benefit from timely resolution of their labor disputes.”
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