I believe the strikes to be part of a belated reaction to the heavy inflation of the past decade. The.5% claimed by the government is bogus. The prices we pay have reflected much more inflation than that, probably closer to 7% or so, In an inflation the price of labor rises last and labor has not risen since 2008. We got out of the habit of large industrial strikes in the Reagan boom and they were slow to begin in the collapse, but they are happening now and will probably proliferate. Workers are feeling harassed as their incomes buy less and less. They finally strike. That is one benefit, perhaps the only one, of the existence of unions in the major industries. They are another canary in that coal mine. They strike when they feel the pinch no matter who is in the White house.
Nah - they're striking because they can:
BP spokesman Scott Dean told the Chicago Post-Tribune that USW employees are among the highest paid hourly workers in the midwest. “The average BP USW employee earns more than $82,000 a year in base salary. This does not include overtime, bonuses, company retirement contributions or other benefits, which on average adds well in excess of $20,000 to the total annual compensation package for the average BP USW employee.”
If that were a true reason for striking, we would be seeing more strikes across more industries year after year. I don't track that, but it does not appear to be true.