This report covers important information about strikes in Illinois between 2021 and 2025. Workers in Illinois organized 123 strikes involving approximately 36,173 workers during this five-year period. For the purpose of this report, we only include a strike in the year in which it originated (e.g. a strike in 2021 that continued into 2022 will only be counted in 2021). The number of strikes increased from 21 in 2021 to a five-year high of 32 in 2023, before declining to 28 in 2024 and 17 in 2025. Worker participation also peaked in 2023, when approximately 16,561 workers went out on strike. More strikes occurred in accommodation and food services than in any other industry, though manufacturing accounted for the largest number of workers involved. Among the 110 strikes for which strike size could be determined, 57 (51.8%) involved fewer than 100 workers. Just over half of all strikes (62, or 50.4%) lasted fewer than five days, although strikes lasting thirty-one days or longer involved approximately 16,055 workers. Pay continues to be the most common grievance leading workers to strike, appearing in 81 work stoppages (65.9%), followed by health and safety concerns (31 strikes) and staffing (25 strikes). Non-union workers organized 25 strikes (20.3% of all strikes) but only accounted for approximately 1,270 workers, or 3.5%, of all workers involved in strikes.
