At the end of each year, we like to look back at where we’ve been. It’s good to stop and take stock of—and take pride in—all that workers together in our labor movement accomplished. It’s especially crucial in a year like this one, where we have so much to celebrate.
We passed historic legislation, like the Infrastructure Investment Act, the Inflation Reduction Act and the CHIPS and Science Act. We came together and held our 29th Constitutional Convention, building our movement to meet the moment. We started work on our new Center for Transformational Organizing, to support the surge of worker organizing around the country. We launched the Sports Council and welcomed the Major League Baseball Players Association into our labor federation. And we stood up the Labor 2022 program that delivered a true pro-worker majority in the Senate and kept the House in play for 2024.
It’s been a banner year for workers coming together to form unions. More than 43,000 workers across the country organized their workplaces this year. And those tangible results are getting noticed—a record 71% of Americans now approve of labor unions, up from 64% before the pandemic. People are seeing firsthand how the power of a union job can change our lives and our communities. And they want to be a part of this movement. It’s something that inspires us every single day.
In this holiday season, we simply want to share how grateful we are and how moved by the solidarity we’ve seen this year. It’s a historic time for unions, and we will not miss this chance to make jobs better for every single worker in this country. We’re just getting started.
Happy holidays from our union family to yours,
President Liz Shuler and Secretary-Treasurer Fred Redmond