At first it seems like a conundrum: With the American economy continuing with its decade-long winning streak there are now thousands and thousands of employees around the nation who have gone on strike for higher wages and better benefits. They range from auto workers in Detroit to public school teachers in Chicago — and those are only the most publicised strikes. Dozens of other companies are plagued by workers who have gone out on strike. The key to the puzzle is that almost every striking union member has the same beef — that ten years ago they all accepted the fact that raises and better benefits would have to be put on the back burner while the country rode out a recession; but the hard times are now past and while boardrooms and upper management reap the bounty of a revived economy most blue collar workers are still stuck in an austerity rut. And they want out.
And even though union membership in the United States is at an all-time low of just ten percent (down from twenty-five percent forty years ago), union leaders feel that now is the time for a show-down — as the economy continues to grow and its harder for companies to fill blue collar positions. So economists predict that the public should be prepared for more strikes as long as the economy continues to expand.
