The number of high profile labor strikes taking place this summer is historic. There are national, regional and local strikes along with potential ones, where the unions are actively trying to advance the pay of their members. In a previous article, we outlined the question of why  are these contract negotiations taking place at the last hour. (Article) Now having a five-month landscape on the 2023 strikes involving these large business conglomerates, the question that needs to be asked is: are company alliances good for every business.

From the Los Angeles hotel strikes that started early in the summer, the Bonaventure Hotel quickly broke ranks with the Hotel Coalition and signed a deal with Union 11. The Bonaventure is the largest hotel in LA, but they are also in fierce competition with other hotels to book rooms.

As the lasting writer (WGA) and actor (SGA) strikes shut down Hollywood, there is a perplexity over why studios like Amazon are aligned with Paramount. Doesn’t Netflix have a different business model than Apple? In the end, are they not all competing against each other to produce the best content and earn the customer dollar to increase shareholder value. In response to the September 8^th Variety article, some of the studios were said to be okay with the WGA demands. The AMTPT has denied these rifts, but as they are different corporations, one can see that their values are not, in fact, the same.

The United Auto Workers Union, UAW, has threatened to strike against the big three auto makers: Ford, GM and Stellantis. The race for these car manufactures will be to see who can avoid a strike along with plant shutdowns and a loss of production. But even as these manufactures compete, they have not valiantly offered the best contracts to the UAW.

Not to reverse history on how these industry coalitions were formed in the past, we note the good they must have served. Looking at the present situation, our thoughts must focus on how they are working now. Apparently, the Bonaventure Hotel didn’t agree with the coalition and formed their own deal with the union. Can we assume that all studios in the AMPTP wish to be shut down as the fall schedule approaches.

Since Labor Day weekend, Kaiser Hospital has been threatened with a strike by their own union. What if all healthcare workers were to be united and all hospitals had a group? Could we then see the shutdown of the entire hospital system in certain cities?