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Slack.com slash DHQ. On the show today, we talk labor strikes, shopping hit falls, and

how the rich gets richer. From American public media, this is Marketplace.

In Portland, Oregon, I'm Marie-Machraise in Forkai, Rizdal. It is Monday, January 16th.

Good to have you along. Today, of course, is a national holiday celebrating the legacy

of Martin Luther King, Jr. While the civil rights leader is known for his protests against

segregation and racism, he was also an advocate of unions and workers' rights. In fact, in

1968, he was assassinated shortly after speaking with sanitation workers in Memphis. The workers

were on strike to protest their low wages and unsafe working conditions. Union membership

and strike activity has been falling in the decade since King's death, but more recently,

that has been starting to change. Between 2021 and 2022, the number of strikes rose almost

50 percent, according to Cornell University. As Marketplace is just in hoe reports, that

pickup and strike activity has got a lot of momentum.

In a lot of industries, working conditions have gotten a lot worse during the pandemic.

Kathy Critan at Cornell University says workers are stressed.

And with labor shortages, that exacerbates the stress because you have to do more with

a lot less people.

Critan used to be an attorney with the National Labor Relations Board, and she says going

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