With strikes and protests raging worldwide, labor unrest and its struggle against the institutions of capital have increased in frequency and magnitude across 2022 and likely to continue through 2024. Between the John Deere and UAW strikes in the United States, French and Indian Farmers blockading highways and marching on their respective institutions of power: labor activism is a worldwide struggle.
This year is set to be a royal rumble between labor and capital in North America. By now, the reasons for the showdown are familiar. We saw a similar phenomenon in recent years, particularly in 2023. The pandemic not only increased the immiseration of workers — it also exposed the plight of working people everywhere. As the rich grew richer, everyone else struggled to feed themselves, fill their prescriptions, and indulge in the rare luxury of a night out.
As the pandemic working conditions laid bare the struggles of workers, the strength of the labor market grew. As wages fell behind inflation, effectively giving workers a pay cut, unions seized the moment…
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