Left politics and labor / Labor Action Tracker
Labor Action Tracker
https://striketracker.ilr.cornell.edu/
Labor actionactive
The archive's reading. none stated. The archive reads the tracker as a record of action held by a university outside the unions it counts; it records that a strike happened and keeps nothing of the arguments inside the movement over whether or how to strike.
| Kind | database (tracker) of strike and labor protest activity across the United States, with a map |
|---|---|
| Operator | Cornell University's ILR School and the University of Illinois' LER School (a collaboration since January 2024); project director Johnnie Kallas, Assistant Professor at Illinois LER |
| Unit of record | a strike or a labor protest; the map counts locations, so a strike at five locations appears five times |
| What it records | strikes (documented from late 2020) and labor protests (from early 2021) in the United States; a member collects data on strike outcomes since August 2025 |
| Whose record it keeps | the record of strikes and labor protests in the United States, as reported in public sources |
| Who holds it | a university research project (Cornell ILR and Illinois LER), funded at its start by the ILR School and staffed by faculty, graduate and undergraduate research assistants; the spreadsheet version of the data is had by emailing the project director |
| The losing side | not recorded |
| Method | news-derived event coding: information gathered from public sources and entered by hand, following a methodology document of definitions, protocols and variables (unread here); a Report a Strike link takes submissions |
| Coverage | geography: United States; period: strikes from late 2020, labor protests from early 2021; the strike database is most accurate as of 2021 |
| Count | value: not stated in the saved sources; as_of: 2026-10-31 |
| Holdings | a database of strike and labor protest activity across the United States; a map of strike and labor protest locations; reports (listed in the navigation, unread) |
| Stated limits | 'we aim to provide a general understanding of labor protest activity rather than achieve a complete count'; 'our map generates the total number of strike and/or labor protest locations, which is more than the total number of individual strikes and/or protests'; 'Our database of strikes is most accurate as of 2021.' |
| Data access | map and listing on the site; a spreadsheet version of the data on request by email to the project director |
| Licence | not stated in the saved sources |
| Lifecycle | state: active; detail: originated at the ILR School in late 2020; public on 1 May 2021 as the Cornell ILR Labor Action Tracker; a Cornell ILR and Illinois LER collaboration, rebranded the Labor Action Tracker, since January 2024; current members joined as recently as August 2026 |
| Founded | late 2020 (public 1 May 2021) |
What its record can settle
- where and when strikes occurred in the United States since 2021, from public reports
- the general pattern of labor protest activity in the United States since early 2021
What it cannot settle
- a complete count of labor protests
- strikes that left no trace in public sources
- the positions, factions or internal disputes inside the unions and workforces that struck
Kept apart
- NOT a complete count of labor protests: it aims at a general understanding
- NOT a count of strikes on its map: the map counts locations
- NOT official statistics: it is a university project coding public reports
- NOT a record of dissent inside unions
Evidence
- self_description (the resource's own statement):
The Tracker provides a comprehensive database of strike and labor protest activity across the United States to better inform and support labor movement activists, policymakers, and scholars.
https://striketracker.ilr.cornell.edu/about.html · read 2026-10-31 · http 200 · sha256 adc5e7da8e924765… - operator (the resource's own statement):
Welcome to the Labor Action Tracker, a collaboration between Cornell University's ILR School and the University of Illinois' LER School.
https://striketracker.ilr.cornell.edu/about.html · read 2026-10-31 · http 200 · sha256 adc5e7da8e924765… - director (the resource's own statement):
Johnnie Kallas is an Assistant Professor at the School of Labor and Employment Relations at the University of Illinois.
https://striketracker.ilr.cornell.edu/about.html · read 2026-10-31 · http 200 · sha256 adc5e7da8e924765… - founded (the resource's own statement):
Our project originated at the ILR School in late 2020 and went public on May 1, 2021, as the Cornell ILR Labor Action Tracker thanks to generous funding from the ILR School.
https://striketracker.ilr.cornell.edu/about.html · read 2026-10-31 · http 200 · sha256 adc5e7da8e924765… - rebrand (the resource's own statement):
In January 2024, the Tracker became a collaborative effort between Cornell ILR and Illinois LER and was rebranded the Labor Action Tracker.
https://striketracker.ilr.cornell.edu/about.html · read 2026-10-31 · http 200 · sha256 adc5e7da8e924765… - coverage_period (the resource's own statement):
We began documenting strikes in late-2020 and labor protests in early-2021.
https://striketracker.ilr.cornell.edu/about.html · read 2026-10-31 · http 200 · sha256 adc5e7da8e924765… - limit_accuracy (the resource's own statement):
Our database of strikes is most accurate as of 2021.
https://striketracker.ilr.cornell.edu/about.html · read 2026-10-31 · http 200 · sha256 adc5e7da8e924765… - confidence (the resource's own statement):
We have a relatively high degree of confidence in our ability to comprehensively capture strike activity.
https://striketracker.ilr.cornell.edu/about.html · read 2026-10-31 · http 200 · sha256 adc5e7da8e924765… - limit_protest (the resource's own statement):
Due to the high number of labor protests across the United States, we aim to provide a general understanding of labor protest activity rather than achieve a complete count.
https://striketracker.ilr.cornell.edu/about.html · read 2026-10-31 · http 200 · sha256 adc5e7da8e924765… - limit_map (the resource's own statement):
Please note that our map generates the total number of strike and/or labor protest locations, which is more than the total number of individual strikes and/or protests (e.g. a single strike at five locations will appear five times on our map).
https://striketracker.ilr.cornell.edu/about.html · read 2026-10-31 · http 200 · sha256 adc5e7da8e924765… - method (the resource's own statement):
Information we gather is from public sources and manually inputted into our tracker.
https://striketracker.ilr.cornell.edu/about.html · read 2026-10-31 · http 200 · sha256 adc5e7da8e924765… - methodology (the resource's own statement):
Please see our methodology document for a more detailed description of our definitions, protocols, and variables.
https://striketracker.ilr.cornell.edu/about.html · read 2026-10-31 · http 200 · sha256 adc5e7da8e924765… - data_access (the resource's own statement):
For any questions, or to access a spreadsheet version of our project's data, please email Johnnie Kallas
https://striketracker.ilr.cornell.edu/about.html · read 2026-10-31 · http 200 · sha256 adc5e7da8e924765… - outcomes (the resource's own statement):
She joined the Labor Action Tracker in August 2025, collecting data on strike outcomes.
https://striketracker.ilr.cornell.edu/about.html · read 2026-10-31 · http 200 · sha256 adc5e7da8e924765… - recent_member (the resource's own statement):
Adriana Vink (BSILR ’27) has worked on the Labor Action Tracker since August 2026, assisting with finding and classifying protest data.
https://striketracker.ilr.cornell.edu/about.html · read 2026-10-31 · http 200 · sha256 adc5e7da8e924765… - inspiration (the resource's own statement):
We also thank the staff of the China Labour Bulletin for inspiring and encouraging us to develop this project.
https://striketracker.ilr.cornell.edu/about.html · read 2026-10-31 · http 200 · sha256 adc5e7da8e924765…
Unchecked
the home page (saved text is navigation only: About Us, Methodology, Reports, Report a Strike, How to cite); the methodology document; the reports; the map and its live counts; the spreadsheet (by email request)
Cite: Lee Sharks, ed. "Labor Action Tracker." Mary Lee Labor meta-aggregator: left politics and labor, maryleelabor.org, compiled 2026-10-31. https://www.maryleelabor.org/aggregators/cornell-labor-action-tracker