The Evolving Landscape of Labor Organizing: Key Insights for Employers

Union organizing remains one of the most consequential challenges for employers in 2025 and beyond. Despite fewer elections overall, unions are winning at historic rates, focusing on smaller, more targeted campaigns, and expanding into industries once considered out of reach.  

Bloomberg’s Midyear Union Election Report highlights this shift, showing that today’s organizing efforts are not retreating but maturing into a more deliberate, sustainable phase. For executives and communicators, the trust gap that drives organizing can quickly lead to both operational and reputation risks. 

Key data from Bloomberg’s report include: 

• Election Volume: In the year's first half, there were 771 representation elections, with unions winning 624. While strong compared to recent history, totals are down from the first half of 2024 (1,071 elections and 842 wins). 

• Total Workers Organized: About 37,500 workers gained union representation in the first half of 2025, compared to 64,000 during the first half of 2024. 

• Win Rates: The win rate stayed strong at 81%, up from 79% last year. 

• Small Units: Small bargaining units (1–49 workers) accounted for roughly 75% of elections, and unions won about 83%. 

• Decertification: In the first half of 2025, there were just 68 decertification elections, the fewest since 2020. Unions won 30 of those elections, retaining about 75% of eligible workers. 

The data underscores that union campaigns are increasingly effective. Unions continue to expand into industries not traditionally associated with labor (Starbucks’ union now represents over 12,000 baristas at 650 stores). The size of bargaining units also plays a significant role. Smaller units with fewer than 50 employees experienced higher win percentages and a growing number of elections overall, while the three largest elections in the first half of the year were all management wins: Amazon in North Carolina (4,738 employees), Tony’s Finer Foods in Chicago (1,995), and Siemens Mobility in Sacramento (1,614). 

Despite the overall decrease in elections, the “cooldown” appears to be less a retreat than a normalization after several years of heightened post-pandemic organizing. Bloomberg’s report notes that the unusually high activity from 2022–2024 was likely the anomaly, not 2025’s steadier pace.  

Union pressures are not a passing phase. Unions remain very popular with the public – 68% approval, according to Gallup. That includes growing support from Republicans, according to Narrative’s 2025 Nexus Survey, which showed that unions have a 48% favorability with GOP voters. As far back as 2023, Narrative’s Nexus survey found that Republicans were evenly split when asked whether they side with companies (35%) or labor unions (34%) in a dispute. 

The mandate is clear: employers must regularly communicate with their employees, or risk letting others define their workplace narrative. Communication is also a two-way street: employees should have trusted channels to share their concerns and ideas with leadership. Silence or delays risk a company's reputation, compromise internal trust, and provide opportunities for union activists looking to grow their support.

To help proactively strengthen workforce relationships and reduce risks related to employee dissatisfaction and potential unionization activity, employers should consider the following actions: 

• Risk Sensing/Heat Mapping: Identify your vulnerabilities related to employee sentiment and highlight potential “targets” that unions might pursue.  

• Employee Engagement: Make sure your efforts fulfill your employees' expectations. Listen to their concerns and act whenever possible.  

• Dedicated Work Group: Develop scenario plans and an actionable playbook. Include Legal, HR, Communications, relevant experts, and front-line reps when needed.  

• Education: Equip managers and front-line employees with knowledge of the company’s perspective on relevant issues (benefits, pay), and what managers can and cannot say. Incorporate education into ongoing employee communications, using existing channels rather than creating new ones whenever possible.  

For some organizations, unions can be an effective way for employees to have their interests represented. Many tactics discussed here apply to already organized companies entering bargaining or facing potential work stoppages. While there are different communication rules within a unionized workplace, the fact remains that businesses cannot afford to remain silent with their employees. The workforce must know your organization’s position on key issues, and the union cannot be the only entity talking to your employees.  

While the total number of union members has not increased proportionately to this widespread support, labor advocacy remains a durable force across industries. The labor movement continues to organize strategically, leveraging public sentiment and cross-industry partnerships to amplify its influence. 

Narrative’s practitioners have decades of experience supporting organizations as they navigate complex labor and workforce environments, balancing compliance, employee engagement, and reputation management. From organizing campaigns and DOL investigations to collective bargaining and work stoppages, we help employers communicate transparently and maintain operational continuity in a shifting labor landscape.