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Marcial Reyes could have just quit his job. Frustrated with chronic understaffing at the Kaiser Permanente hospital where he works in Southern California, he knows he has options in a region desperate for nurses.

Instead, he voted to go on strike.

And many of them are either hitting the picket lines or quitting their jobs as a result.

The changing dynamics of the US labor market, which has put employees rather than employers in the driver's seat in a way not seen for decades, is allowing unions to flex their muscle.

Twenty years ago today, on a Sunday afternoon in Brookwood, Alabama, 32 coal miners descended 2,000 feet below the ground into the Jim Walter Resources Blue Creek No. 5 Mine for a routine maintenance check.

Flying into Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport recently, I spotted the ramp workers on the tarmac, busily unloading bags and doing safety checks on the plane in 115 degree heat.

AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler discussed the economy and jobs with the Christian Science Monitor. She also reflected on becoming the first woman to lead the union. The organization’s previous president, Richard Trumka, passed away in August 2021.