Focus at Four: Labor law expert weighs on in recent strikes
BRYAN, Texas (KBTX) – The United Auto Workers are approaching one week since workers elected to strike, joining a recent trend of unions to exercise their rights.
In addition to the UAW strike, the Screen Writers Guild and SAG-AFTRA are continuing strikes that began earlier in the summer.
Michael Z. Green, Workplace Law Director and Law Professor at Texas A&M University joined First News at Four to break down the complex situations.
“I have tended to say in some of my academic writings and some of my research that I I believe that COVID spurred a lot of what is the kind of new labor movement that is going on now in our country,” Green said. “During COVID it was a time period where workers were starting to be called ‘essential workers,’ at some jobs and they realized that when it came to talking to their employer about basic things like safety and health and time off that they might be in a better situation if they had a union as their collective voice.”
Green said the power of unions depends largely on who occupies the White House.
“A big part of it is who the President is and the National Labor Relations Board, which regulates a lot of the private sector labor organizing,” Green said.
Green believes the current administration is giving unions an opportunity to see if they can gain more traction.
