I find it amusing that the stupid private sector voters will gladly vote for the benefit of public sector union's crazy benefits such as 80+% pensions that they themselves will never achieve in their lifetime.
The day I vote for Union's benefit is the day I see them picketing for us private sector non-union peeps, until then fuhgeddaboutit.
If you're a middle class wage earner, then the unions have actually BEEN picketing for you and they've also been striking on your behalf.
Union negotiated wages have been the
benchmark wage that the private sector uses to pay their own non-union workers of like occupations. Think of it this way: If union wages are far better than a private sector wage of the same occupation, wouldn't all the best workers seek these union jobs and have the non-union shops wanting for talent? These non-union shops would then have to pay a wage equal to or better than the union shop to either keep the skilled workers they have or attract the good ones working at union shops. Union wages is like the incoming tide such that it
lifts all boats. Likewise, getting rid of the unions will be like the outgoing tide such that it
lowers all boats.
You may not realize it, but unions did in fact create the middle class, especially so after World War II.
Haven't you noticed that there is a direct correlation between how the unions have been shrinking and how the middle class is also shrinking a like amount?
Let's look at the auto industry. They're doing just fine with the majority of line jobs filled by UAW employees. The non-union auto manufacturing shops have had to pay wage/benefits packages similar to the amounts the unions negotiated for (adjusted for cost of living).
That the US auto manufacturers are doing great at the present thoroughly debunks the fairy tale about the unions destroying the auto industry when management held/holds all the decision making power as to how they make their products desireable to the driving public.
In hard times, most unions have made concessions commensurate with the times they were negotiated in as saving their jobs became their highest priority. Conflicts arose for the most part when opportunistic management teams attempted to bust unions wholesale in those difficult economic times instead of trying to save as many jobs as possible.
True, there are as many bad union bosses as there are bad management types. However, just as the auto industry here in the US have worked well with the unions, so too have numerous other US manufacturers or service providers worked well with unions whose workers they represent.