Overview
- Thousands of people joined Labor Day parades and festivals Monday in cities such as Boston, Detroit, Milwaukee, Philadelphia and Watsonville to display union solidarity and press active local labor disputes.
- Public approval of unions is near 70 percent even though only about 10 percent of U.S. workers belong to unions, giving organized labor popular support but limited direct reach into the workforce.
- Federal actions since March 2025, including an executive order and large federal layoffs, have tightened public‑sector bargaining and prompted union legal challenges and some court decisions reversing administration moves.
- States and cities are filling the enforcement gap by funding labor departments, creating workplace rights units, expanding prosecutor grants and using contracting and permitting rules to hold employers to higher labor standards.
- The local momentum is changing workers’ lives now: union recruitment drives aim at younger tradespeople, high‑profile strikes and bargaining fights remain active, and new bargaining groups like the App Drivers Union are formalizing representation for gig workers.