140,000 Americans walked out of work last year to strike for higher pay and safer workplaces — and thousands got what they wanted

• In 2021, about 140,000 workers walked out and went on strike, according to new data.
• Researchers at Cornell University created a tracker and compiled the data used in its first annual report.

As workers quit at near-record rates and wages grew higher as employers competed for talent, 2021 marked a year where workers were rethinking what their labor means — and new data shows just how many decided to walk out in search of better conditions.

In 2021, about 140,000 workers were involved in work stoppages. In total, there were 265 work stoppages last year, according to researchers at Cornell University's ILR School, who created the ILR Labor Action Tracker and compiled the data used in its first annual report. Cumulatively, that means there were about 3.27 million "strike days" in 2021 — which the researchers define as how long strikes lasted, multiplied by the number of strikers.

The priorities for America's strikers — and who they are — show how workers reacted to 2021's labor market. Pay was the most cited reason that workers walked out, followed by demands for healthcare and health and safety. About a third of all work stoppages were from nonunionized workers, meaning that workers who aren't technically part of organized labor still walked out for better conditions.

Workers' demands and willingness to walk out without a union shows that current pay, health measures, staffing, and COVID precautions aren't cutting it anymore.

Workers walked out over pay and health and safety

In July, nine workers at a Burger King in Lincoln, Nebraska, all quit over working conditions and pay.

In all, nearly 60,000 workers were involved in work stoppages over pay in 2021 — a demand that drove 160 work stoppages. As a result, wages skyrocketed as employers scramble to hire and workers make it clear that labor shortages are more of a wage shortage, as they leave low-wage roles en masse.

The following chart shows the demands that workers went on strike over:

The researchers note the list of demands in the report isn't an exhaustive one, and that work stoppages may be based on multiple demands.

As of January 2022, wages had grown by 5.7% year-over-year. Those gains come after five decades of declining wages and nearly 13 years of the minimum wage remaining stagnant at $7.25. And they come at a time in which overall inflation grew 7.5% year-over-year, the most in 40 years, and wiping out any benefit for many workers' wage gains. There were six work stoppages for a $15 minimum wage in 2021. Striking workers at Kellogg's, King Sooper's, John Deere, and Frito-Lay all saw wage bumps as a result of their strikes.

Healthcare and health and safety also ranked high among strikers as reasons to walk out. Workers at King Sooper's in Colorado went on strike early this year, with safety, wages, and healthcare among their primary demands.

"Workers now are saying, if I'm gonna risk my life at the job, it's gonna have to be worth it," Kim Cordova, the president of UFCW Local 7, which represented King Sooper's strikers, previously told Insider.

#Striketober was real, but work stoppages and union membership are still low

There were notable spikes in worker action in October and November. That aligns with what activists termed #Striketober, an inflection point mid-year where thousands of workers at places like Kellogg's and John Deere went on strike and flexed their power. Workers at 25 companies went on strike from September to November, Insider's Heather Schlitz reported.

The following chart shows the approximate number of workers involved in work stoppages throughout the year:

In both October and November, per the report, there were 60 total work stoppages. The last month of 2021 saw a total of 41.

"We're a part of a movement now that seems to be sweeping the nation — where the American blue-collar worker just wants what's fair and just in a time of economic growth," Dan Osborn, a Kellogg's worker who had been at the company for 18 years and served as president of the local union branch in Omaha, Nebraska, told Insider while on strike.

But while those work stoppages do show an uptick in concentrated activity, they still pale in comparison to previous major work stoppages that the Bureau of Labor Statistics tracks. For years, "major work stoppages" — which include at least 1,000 workers for at least one shift — have been trending down.

Union membership also fell in 2021, marking another decline after decades of a downward trend. But the number of nonunion workers who walked out shows that organization labor actions are still happening — enthusiasm that the labor movement wants to seize upon and use as a tool to further organize.