Lack of Trade Unions in the USA

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From the german side:
Our trade-unions are heading to some serious trouble, basically because of the problems you mentioned the American ones had: pushing up wages, whatever the cost. But mainly, they fight very hard to protect people from being fired...  up to a point where companies can't dare hiring today, becaus they don't know if they can  afford this one more worker after finishing the project they are working on right now.
In some areas, wages CANNOT be lowered,  but in some they can, and still trade unions refuse to show at least some felxibility.
And I'd rather work for 2 different companies within one year than not work at all.

Of course, we have problems from gouvernment side, too: if you get 1000€, the company actually PAYS around 2000€, and while this money goes into health-care and such, too, it is on the whole more than is healthy for economy.

So, just to put in another country .

Sometimes they protect people that SHOULD be fired. Unions demand to much and give their people to little.

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Labor unions actually don't do any good for their members - any monopolistic attempt to artificially raise prices for a commodity such as labor will only cause the buyer (employers and ultimately consumers) to look for alternatives - such as overseas, automation, etc.  It automatically leads to unemployment.  I think the only way labor unions can artificially inflate the price of labor is with government force - for example protectionism - violating the rights of buyers.

That's BS.  Though in some cases, unions do in fact protect lazy and/or incompetent people they shouldn't be.

Most industries or companies that have unions did something to cause significant labor problems, such as poor working conditions. The meatpacking, steel, and auto industries, for example, at one time or another treated their employees like crap. The employees were forced to organize in order to have any grievence procedures at all to provide a safe work place.

I agree that labor unions cause an anti-competitive labor market. Basically its a government sanctioned labor monopoly.

However, labor unions have been very helpful in providing safe working conditions.

Perhaps if labor unions were able to bargain working conditions, but not pay?    

Labor conditions for the most part are EXCELLENT in this nation. We have OSHA and the DoL to oversee this plus state level OSHA agencies. Believe me we get inspected 3 times a year. I know what their standards are and they ARE looking out for the best interests of the workers. Labor Unions are about profits these days.