BUFFALO, N.Y. — Unions continue to see a boom in activity in recent years. With that, the National Labor Relations Board is also seeing a rise in unfair labor practice filings.

Numbers started going up coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic and seem to not be stopping.

The pandemic shined a light on a lot of issues facing workers. They were angry at their employers and they saw CEO pay increases go up while they got nothing. Pile that onto inflation and you get people who want change.

“I am treated very fairly. I'm paid very fairly. I'm able to live a life with a surety of what I'm doing on a day-to-day basis,” said Scott Shugarts, the president of the CSEA County Clerk and Legal Section. 

For the last 10 years, Shugarts has seen the benefits of the Civil Service Employees Association, a union he now helps lead.

“Having a unionized workplace is basically having a contract with your employer," he said. "So everyone is very clear on what's expected and what's required.”

He’s happy to see union interest increasing.

“Unionization is what basically built this country,” Shugarts said. 

According to the NLRB, from October 2023 to October 2024, they got 3,286 union election petitions. That’s up 27% from the prior year.

“For employees who are considering starting a union or going kind of toe-to-toe with their employer, they should be encouraged by these numbers”, added Cathy Creighton, the director of Cornell University’s Buffalo Co-Lab.

Creighton knows there are benefits.

“Union members are more civically engaged, they feel more in control of their life, and that's really because they have a way to have a voice at work,” she said. 

She expects the trend to keep increasing.

“It is not turning out to be a blip,” Creighton said. "It's turning out to be sort of a sustained effort."

But with more unions, comes more unfair labor practice charge filings.

The NLRB says those are up 7% over that same time period. 

The cases are being worked through, despite their field office staffing going down 50% over the last two decades.

If these numbers continue, it could be an issue.

“There'll be cases that will be slower and perhaps they won't be able to keep up,” Creighton said.

It’s a process Shugarts knows well. 

“Currently, out of the offices that I represent in the county, we have, I believe, 12 different grievances going in front of a state arbitration board,” he said.

It’s those union members though that see the biggest impact.

“I have faith that they will eventually be heard and be heard fairly. However, it's incredibly frustrating to have to wait,” said Shugarts.

Even still, he’s just glad there is a process to try and find parity. 

“If you have a problem in your workplace, you should address it through proper channels," he added. "Unionization is, I would say, one of the best channels to address it."

Another rate increasing recently is strike activity.

According to Creighton, that’s gone up 114% from 2022 to 2023, showing that if the only way to pry wages and benefits out of their employers is to strike, they’re willing to do it.