Workers of My World, Unite! A Two-Step Model for the Diffusion of Pro-Union Sentiment

• In Event: 30426 - Cultural Processes of Worker Mobilization

Abstract

After decades of decline, in 2022, the American labor movement began to show signs of new life. In this paper we argue that increasing interest in unionization arose endogenously as a result of labor’s renewed visibility and success. We elaborate and test a two-stage diffusion process to explain changing patterns of union support, first within companies across localities, and second within localities across companies. The article draws on individual-level self-reports of union support collected from workers employed at Amazon, Starbucks, and 168 additional large service-sector employers in 2020 and 2022. We find that initial union organizing victories at Amazon and Starbucks led to significant increases in union support among workers within these companies. In the case of Starbucks, where this increased support led to subsequent victories, we find that these victories, in turn, led to significant increases in union support among nearby fast food workers. In sum, we provide evidence in support of the idea that successful union organizing may beget successful union organizing, and the specific processes by which it might do so.

Authors

• Evelyn Bellew, Berkeley

• Daniel J. Schneider, Harvard University

• Adam Reich, Columbia University