Major strikes drew 13% more workers in 2025 as sanitation, aerospace and health care employees walked out

The number of workers who took part in large strikes in the United States grew last year, according to new federal data analyzed by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI). Bureau of Labor Statistics figures released in February show that 306,800 workers were involved in 30 major work stoppages in 2025.

EPI, a Washington think tank whose staff is unionized, reported that the total marked a 13% increase from 2024, when about 271,500 workers took part in major work stoppages. The institute’s Margaret Poydock wrote that the figure is likely an undercount given the data’s limitations, but that the number of workers in major strikes remains elevated compared with the early 2000s.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics only counts work stoppages, meaning both strikes and lockouts, that involve 1,000 or more workers and last at least one full shift on a weekday. Because a majority of private-sector workers are employed by smaller firms, EPI noted, the official count leaves out many people who walk off the job. The agency does not distinguish between strikes and lockouts, though lockouts, which are initiated by management, are relatively rare.

A broader tally shows a mixed picture

A wider measure kept by researchers at Cornell University and the University of Illinois captured more activity but a different trend. The Labor Action Tracker documented 303 work stoppages in 2025, consisting of 298 strikes and five lockouts, involving roughly 290,000 workers and about 4.15 million strike days.

The Cornell and Illinois researchers wrote that total work stoppage activity slightly decreased in 2025. Their report described a 15.6% drop in the number of work stoppages and a 22.1% decline in strike days from 2024, alongside a 1% decrease in the number of workers involved. The authors said 2023 appeared to be an outlier, with especially large and long strikes, and that the number of workers on strike in 2024 and 2025 still exceeded 2021 and 2022 levels.

According to the tracker, the accommodation and food services industry recorded more work stoppages than any other, while health care and social assistance involved the greatest number of workers, about 40%, and the most strike days. Pay was the most common demand, and the number of stoppages seeking a first contract rose from 45 to 70 between 2024 and 2025. The West region accounted for 77.1% of all workers on strike, which the researchers attributed largely to activity in California.

From city streets to assembly lines

EPI pointed to walkouts across several sectors. In Philadelphia, about 9,000 blue-collar municipal workers represented by AFSCME District Council 33, including sanitation workers, went on strike for eight days in July before members approved a new contract. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that 1,535 members voted to accept the deal and 838 voted against it.

In Missouri and Illinois, 3,200 Boeing machinists represented by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers held a strike that stretched roughly three months. EPI said the union secured a 24% general wage increase over the length of the contract.

In the public sector, EPI noted a five-day strike by 1,400 custodial, maintenance and services workers at the University of Minnesota, where the Teamsters won higher wage increases. In the private sector, the institute highlighted a 46-day strike by 5,000 nurses at Providence hospitals, where the Oregon Nurses Association secured wage increases, staffing provisions and guaranteed pay for missed breaks. In California, Hawaii and the Northwest, a strike involving tens of thousands of Kaiser Permanente workers affiliated with the Alliance of Health Care Unions ended on Oct. 19.

EPI said major work stoppages took place in 15 states in 2025, with California recording the most at 18, followed by Washington, Colorado, Illinois and Oregon. Seventeen of the 30 major stoppages occurred in the public sector.

Legal limits on the right to strike

EPI framed the year’s activity around what it called an imbalance of bargaining power. The institute noted that the National Labor Relations Act gives most private-sector workers the right to strike, but that decisions by the National Labor Relations Board and the Supreme Court have eroded that right over time. It cited NLRB v. Mackay Radio & Telegraph Co., in which the Supreme Court ruled that employers can legally hire permanent replacements for striking workers in some cases.

There is no federal law granting public-sector workers the right to strike, though EPI said about a dozen states have extended that right to some state and local government employees. The institute urged Congress to pass the Protecting the Right to Organize Act, which would bar employers from permanently replacing strikers, along with measures to protect strikers’ health care and expand their eligibility for food assistance. It also called on states to follow New Jersey, New York, Oregon and Washington in making striking workers eligible for unemployment insurance benefits.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics has documented only work stoppages involving 1,000 or more workers since funding cuts in the early 1980s, a threshold the Cornell and Illinois researchers said excludes the majority of strike activity nationwide.