Worcester Business Journal

16 Worcester Business Journal | May 30, 2022 | wbjournal.com F O C U S W O R C E S T E R ' S 3 0 0 Y E A R S ARCHITECTURE | PLANNING | DESIGN INNOVATION 50 Speen Street, Ste 300, Framingham, MA 01701 Photo: © Keitaro Yoshioka 617-467-3119 MATZCollaborative.com CREATIVE SPACES FOR LEARNING, GROWING AND SUSTAINING unions than it has been under previous administrations, Anastasopoulos said. e new demand for workers in U.S. companies means unions have more of an edge in the city than they did over the past several decades. "We're back again at this concept of supply-and-demand competition, with all sorts of colleges and universities, and we have a lot of tech and life sciences industries," Anastasopoulos said. "But younger generations entering the workforce now use unions in a much different way than someone a little bit older than me would." Whereas a union member in the past would be thought of as a company man and likely stay at the same place of employment, workers are unionizing at places where employment is thought of as more temporary, like Starbucks or physician residents, Anastasopoulos said. Union members use their organizing efforts to push for social issues, like affirming transgender rights or fighting climate change, he said. Americans approval of labor unions is at a six-decade high, according to a 2021 poll from national data firm Gallup. Last year, 68% of the nation had a favorable opinion of unions, up three percentage points from the year prior and the highest level since it was 71% in 1965. "People are viewing unions in a much more positive way," Anastasopoulos said. "It's a better educated, sometimes highly educated workforce. You see it in Silicon Valley, and now you're starting to see it here too." Continued from page 15 W Members of the Massachusetts Nurses As- sociation during the record-breaking strike against Saint Vincent's Hospital, which lasted more than 300 days in 2021 and 2022 PHOTO | GRANT WELKER

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