"You should really let go of that folclore because it makes absolutely no sense at all and has absolutely zero connection to the real world."
You mean the 3 decades I dealt with unions?
"Unions are about employee representation and negotiating power."
In theory, they were there to help employees. In practice, they are just as corrupt as any large organization and only hurt companies that have to deal with them.
"They are the only way to create change such as limiting working hours and demand safe working conditions and cut down on arbitrarily firing people for no reason."
The only way? Please. We have federal and state employment laws that protect all works. No unions required.
"Without unions you have zero power. With an underperforming union you have some power. Sounds like even a bad union is progress."
If you are a good employee, you have plenty of power. If you are bad and under performing, you need the protection by the unions.
In countries that have really string unions, it's getting to the point where you won't get hired at all without experience because firing an employee involves a court case and lots of red tape. This resulted in protests/riots in Sweden about 5 or 6 years ago.
It also makes a company less competitive in the international marketplace. Now that the Internet has opened up commerce internationally, companies that pay unskilled workers 4x what they are actually worth don't do so well.
It's difficult for me to change my views on this when I've seen the rampant corruption first-hand and the cancerous like effect unions have on a company over time.
