More than 10,000 John Deere workers went on strike Thursday, and more than 24,000 health care workers at Kaiser Permanente and about 60,000 Hollywood workers, members of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, are preparing to strike. They join thousands of other workers who have recently faced a similar decision, including Kellogg plant workers who are on strike and Nabisco employees who recently ended a weekslong strike…

The simultaneous worker activism is known as a “strike wave,” said Kate Bronfenbrenner, the director of labor education research at the ILR.

“Strikes can be contagious for unions and workers,” she said. “There are shared issues that are pushing workers to go on strike — and workers are looking at each other and getting inspired.”…

In many cases, the pandemic has given workers time to rethink their priorities, and the time away from work has given them renewed perspective. In others, the pandemic was a stark reminder that workers were risking their lives for little reward.

“Covid was a wake-up call, because it wasn’t just you could get injured on the job, but going to work could kill you,” Bronfenbrenner said. “Workers are feeling like they’re working harder than ever and they put themselves out there during Covid and risked their lives for what?”