US unions winning big gains amid ‘Great Reset’ in worker power

Increased militancy after pandemic sacrifices and tighter labor market contributed to impressive contract deals in last year

Call it the Great Reset. Across the US, labor unions are winning surprisingly large contract settlements as workers have reset their expectations to demand considerably more than they did just a few years ago, and that has in turn pressured many corporations to reset - and increase - the pay packages they are giving in union contracts.

The result has been a wave of impressive - sometimes eye-popping - union contracts over the past year, far more generous than in recent decades. In August, 15,000 American Airlines pilots won pay increases of 46% over four years. In a huge labor confrontation last summer, 340,000 Teamster members at UPS won raises of $7.50 an hour over five years, with drivers' pay climbing to $49 an hour and part-time workers receiving a pay increase of 48% on average.