Workplace organizing, strikes, and local coalitions challenging corporate and public employers

The U.S. labor movement in 2026 continues to surge forward, building on a historic wave of worker militancy, legal victories, and innovative coalition-building that are reshaping workplace rights and community power. As major strikes and organizing drives escalate across transportation, healthcare, food production, public sector, care work, and criminal defense, the movement is securing significant policy advances and legal protections that strengthen economic security and workers’ bargaining power. At the same time, new federal court rulings, state-level reforms, and grassroots innovations expand labor’s reach while persistent challenges—such as stalled farm labor reform, climate-driven health crises, immigration enforcement risks, and internal union reforms—demand sustained strategic focus.

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Persistent and Escalating Worker Militancy Remains the Movement’s Backbone

Worker militancy continues to animate labor’s momentum in 2026, with frontline struggles intensifying and expanding into new sectors:

• Transportation: The Miami International Airport strike has now entered its twelfth month, a remarkable testament to worker resilience amid American Airlines’ refusal to meet wage demands reflective of Miami’s high cost of living. Despite the airline’s robust $15.2 billion profit in Q4 2025, management maintains a hardline stance, prompting sustained solidarity from community groups, political leaders, and nationwide unions. This prolonged strike has become emblematic of labor’s fight for dignity in critical infrastructure sectors.

• Healthcare: The Kaiser Permanente nurses’ strike has grown to encompass nearly 50,000 workers and shows no signs of abating. Alongside nurses, salaried healthcare workers are organizing with renewed vigor, galvanized by viral exposés like “YOU are the healthcare’s hidden heroes — fixed salary, unlimited hours, and gaslit into thinking,” which reveal widespread exploitation through unpaid overtime and emotional labor. These revelations have sharpened demands for fair compensation, reasonable workloads, and respect—directly linking worker wellbeing to patient care quality.

• Food and Beverage: Organizing in food and beverage production remains a critical battleground. At Ghirardelli’s San Francisco chocolate plant, workers moved swiftly from strike authorization to scheduled walkouts following stalled contract talks, fueled in part by lingering outrage from the 2025 Border Patrol raid on Starbucks’ roasting facility. The sector’s labor actions highlight the essential nature of these jobs and the urgent need for livable wages and safer working conditions.

• Public Sector and Care Work: Public employee unions, particularly in Maryland and other states, have stepped up legal challenges against legislative attacks on collective bargaining rights. Meanwhile, organizing in child and elder care sectors gains momentum as workers press for recognition, better pay, and protections, asserting their indispensable role in community stability.

• Criminal Justice and Public Defender Organizing: A powerful new front has emerged among public defenders nationally, who are mounting coordinated union drives and strikes to challenge chronic underfunding and overwhelming caseloads. These efforts forge critical alliances between labor, anti-incarceration advocacy, and racial justice movements, extending labor’s influence into the criminal justice system’s core.

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Significant Policy and Legal Wins Strengthen Economic Security and Worker Protections

2026 has seen landmark policy changes and legal rulings that reinforce labor’s gains and broaden protections:

• New California Worker Protections Effective January 1, 2026: California’s Department of Labor and Workforce Development Agency (LWDA) announced a suite of new worker protections taking effect at the start of the year. These include expanded rights related to scheduling, wage transparency, workplace safety, and protections against retaliation. These regulations strengthen enforcement mechanisms and provide workers with clearer channels to exercise and defend their rights in one of the nation’s largest labor markets.

• Widespread State Minimum Wage Increases: Nineteen states—including California, Oregon, Illinois, and others—implemented significant minimum wage hikes this year, building on the federal minimum wage increase enacted in late December 2025. These coordinated increases cumulatively raise wages for millions, particularly benefiting low-income workers and reinforcing labor’s strategic policy victories.

• Expanded Paid Family and Medical Leave: Several states extended paid family and medical leave programs, improving access and benefit levels. Early evidence indicates these policies enhance workforce retention and support caregiving workers, particularly women and marginalized groups, thereby advancing equitable workplace standards.

• Federal Court Blocks Restrictions on Labor Mediation Agency: A notable legal victory came when a U.S. federal judge barred former President Trump’s administration from limiting the reach of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS), a crucial agency in labor dispute resolution. This ruling preserves an important institutional mechanism that bolsters unions’ bargaining power by ensuring access to federal mediation services during contract negotiations and labor conflicts.

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Movement Innovations Expand Labor’s Reach and Intersectional Power

Labor’s organizing strategies continue to evolve, integrating social justice concerns and community resilience:

• Housing Unions and Tenant Organizing: Housing unions in cities like Tacoma are mobilizing renters and housing workers to confront displacement and homelessness, including the rise in RV homelessness among working families. These efforts weave together housing justice and labor rights, creating new bases of community power.

• Worker Cooperatives as Democratic Alternatives: Worker-owned cooperatives gain traction as viable alternatives to precarious corporate employment, offering models for collective ownership, economic stability, and local control.

• Legal and Educational Empowerment: Employment attorney Neil Shou’s widely viewed video series on worker rights—covering topics from tip pooling to workers’ compensation and protections for employees with criminal records—has empowered thousands of workers nationwide. His latest installment, New Year, New Rights: California Labor Laws & What You Need to Know in 2026, provides timely guidance helping workers and organizers navigate complex regulatory environments.

• Cross-Movement Solidarity and Political Consciousness: Labor leaders like Seattle ILWU Local 52 Past President Gabriel Prawl continue to deepen connections between labor struggles and broader anti-racist, anti-fascist movements, fostering solidarity essential for sustaining momentum in a polarized political climate.

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UAW Advances Dual Strategy of Internal Reform and EV Sector Organizing

Under President Shawn Fain’s leadership, the United Auto Workers remain focused on rebuilding trust while expanding influence in emerging industries:

• Internal Democratic Reforms: Following the 2025 corruption scandal, the UAW has implemented transparency measures, member-led oversight, and grassroots engagement, rebuilding accountability and member confidence.

• Electric Vehicle (EV) Organizing: The union is intensifying drives at EV manufacturing plants, pressing for fair wages, benefits, and safe working conditions amid the industry’s rapid electrification. Fain emphasized, “Rebuilding trust is essential, but so is fighting for the wages and benefits our members deserve in this changing industry.”

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Persistent Challenges Demand Coordinated, Intersectional Responses

Despite these gains, the labor movement faces complex ongoing obstacles:

• Stalled Farm Labor Reform: Congressional deadlock, driven in part by opposition from senators such as Chuck Grassley, continues to block meaningful farm labor reforms. This impasse sustains exploitative conditions and limits union influence in rural and agricultural sectors.

• Climate-Driven Occupational Health Crises: Rising heat-related illnesses, kidney failure, and other climate-related health issues among migrant and outdoor workers call for urgent collaboration between labor, environmental justice, and public health advocates.

• Immigration Enforcement Risks: Federal immigration raids and deportation threats disrupt organizing efforts and sow fear, particularly in agriculture and food processing. Grassroots coalitions’ anti-ICE rapid response networks remain vital but face challenges sustaining unified labor campaigns under ongoing enforcement pressures.

• Internal Union Reform Needs: Beyond the UAW, other unions grapple with internal governance challenges, underscoring the need for continued democratic reforms and member engagement to maintain legitimacy and effectiveness.

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Strategic Priorities Moving Forward

As 2026 progresses, the labor movement aims to translate its broad militancy, legal victories, and coalition-building into lasting reforms and sustained growth. Key strategic priorities include:

• Sustaining Militancy Across Sectors: Continuing strikes and organizing drives in transportation, healthcare, food production, public sector, care work, and criminal justice to secure concrete gains in wages, safety, and democratic representation.

• Deepening Cross-Movement Alliances: Strengthening ties with tenant rights groups, racial justice organizations, immigrant advocacy networks, and international labor solidarity movements to build broad-based power.

• Scaling Organizing in Emerging Sectors: Expanding union presence in electric vehicle manufacturing, care work, and worker cooperatives to adapt to economic shifts and new labor markets.

• Strengthening Legal and Policy Enforcement: Leveraging progressive state and municipal policies, court rulings, and federal protections to ensure effective enforcement and durable worker protections.

• Addressing Intersecting Crises: Developing integrated strategies to meet challenges posed by stalled farm labor reform, climate-induced occupational health risks, immigration enforcement, and union governance.

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Conclusion

The U.S. labor movement in 2026 stands at a transformative juncture. Through sustained militancy, innovative organizing, and critical legal and policy victories, workers are reclaiming democratic power in workplaces and communities. While entrenched employer resistance, political opposition, and systemic challenges persist, the growing resilience, innovation, and coalition-building across labor and allied movements position them to decisively shape the nation’s economic and social future. The struggle this year goes beyond traditional workplace concerns, aiming to build a more equitable, democratic, and just society for all.