American workers are fed up

The working class is restless. Can unions begin a new era in the fight for workers' rights?

A striking worker.
(Image credit: Illustrated | Getty Images, iStock)

The American working class is restless. Across the country, unionized workers are going on strike in what might be the biggest wave of walkouts in over a decade, and workers in general are quitting their jobs at the highest rate ever measured (in data going back to 2000).

This is an encouraging sign of long-overdue labor militancy. But it remains to be seen whether American unions can seize the moment to reverse their long-standing decline in membership and begin a new era in the fight for workers' rights.

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Ryan Cooper

Ryan Cooper is a national correspondent at TheWeek.com. His work has appeared in the Washington Monthly, The New Republic, and the Washington Post.