US unions have flexed their muscles in a way not seen in decades since last Labor Day. While they’ve suffered some defeats, they’ve scored some big victories.

According to Art Wheaton, director of labor studies at Cornell University’s Industrial and Labor Relations school in Buffalo, New York, it has been a good year for unions. As a result of your successes, you will be able to move forward in the right direction. In my opinion, they deserve a B+. Not an A.”

340,000 Teamsters at UPS threatened a strike, which resulted in the union achieving most of its bargaining goals, including significantly improved wages for part-timers who make up most of the union’s membership. A lower pay tier had been in place for UPS workers hired since 2018 to allow UPS to move to 6-day a week delivery, and that pay tier has now been eliminated. As a result, the deal was approved by an overwhelming majority of members.

In spite of the Teamsters’ decision to avoid a walkout, there has been an increase in the number of major strikes in the US labor movement. From September 1 of last year through August 31 of this year, unions initiated 70 strikes, with more than 100 workers participating for more than a week.

It’s a significant increase of 40% over a year ago, when there was only one strike a week.

Other smaller strikes include one-day strikes at Starbucks locations that voted to unionize but have not yet reached an initial contract. The total number of strikes in the past year increased to nearly 400 when those smaller strikes are included.

Throughout the last year, unions have used strikes to win many bargaining goals, from non-teaching school workers in Los Angeles to nurses in New York City. There were, however, some strikes that did not succeed.

One of the longest US strikes in recent years ended in March when nearly 1,000 coal miners at Warrior Met Coal returned to work after nearly two years on strike. New contracts were not reached between the United Mine Workers union and the company.