Labor Unions Become More Influential As Technology Impacts Jobs
In The News Piece in Forbes
Nov. 9, 2023
Shalin Jyotishi published an article in Forbes about labor unions and the emerging hydrogen industry as part of New America's initiative on the Future of Work and the Innovation Economy.
Labor unions are having a come-back moment in the United States, and they are poised to become more influential as emerging technologies such as AI grip the U.S. job market and impact workers.
American support for unions has been rising since 2009, and an August 2023 Gallup poll suggested the public is rallying behind expanding union influence with two out of three Americans supporting unions. The 67 percent of Americans who approve of labor unions today is down slightly from 71 percent a year ago but marks the fifth straight year this reading has exceeded its long-term average of 62 percent.
President Biden who has taken a position as the “most union-friendly president in American history” became the first sitting U.S. president to join picket lines alongside workers participating in the United Auto Workers (UAW) Strike where concerns about union members losing out in the transition to electric vehicles was a point of contention. The UAW, whose many members work in factories that make vehicles powered by combustion engines, sought assurance that auto giants won't exploit the transition to electric vehicles to eliminate union jobs and contracts.
Read the full article here.