# The San Diego Comic Con has a small problem

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-san-diego-comic-con-has-a-small-problem/987061>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [July 15, 2023, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-san-diego-comic-con-has-a-small-problem/987061 "2023-07-15T08:06:05Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 55

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\
**Post date:** [July 17, 2023, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-san-diego-comic-con-has-a-small-problem/987061/55 "2023-07-17T23:34:16Z")

</div>

> [@Miller](#):
>
> I come from the US, where people almost never strike. Things have to get _exceptionally_ dire before American labor stands up for itself.

Part is also that only 10% of American workers belong to unions; as rare as union or guild\* strikes are, strikes by non-union employees are, if not completely non-existent, exceptionally rare.

> [@](#):
>
> The union membership rate–the percent of wage and salary workers who were members of  
> unions–was 10.1 percent in 2022, down from 10.3 percent in 2021, the U.S. Bureau of  
> Labor Statistics reported today.

> [@](#):
>
> The 2022 unionization rate (10.1 percent) is the lowest on record. In 1983, the first year where comparable union data are available, the union membership rate was 20.1 percent

\*- Most of the workers’ organizations in the entertainment industry are “guilds,” not unions. My understanding of the distinction is that a guild provides collective bargaining for independent contractors (actors, writers, directors, etc.), while a union does the same for actual employees.

> **[Union Members Summary - 2022 A01 Results](https://www.bls.gov/news.release/union2.nr0.htm)**

---

_[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-san-diego-comic-con-has-a-small-problem/987061)._