Because there isn't much more that unions can offer their workers wrt workplace safety and child labor issues, their main concern today is collective bargaining. The important issues beyond collective bargaining have been resolved for decades. Sure, there is always room for improvement. But if the unions were only needed to work those issues, then there wouldn't be much need for their existence anymore. So all they have to offer their workers as the years pass is higher and higher wages. And it is for that reason that I believe the unions have priced themselves out of the global market.
I believe in liassez faire economics. You cannot unilaterally raise the wage scale, no. Whatever the global market dictates is what the wage rates should be imo.
Of course i'm not in favor of offshoring jobs but that is what the global market dictates at this time. That is what globalism and free trade dictate. Whether i'm in favor or against globalism and free trade or not is irrelevant. That is the situation we are in.
If you have a hard time understanding how this works, and if i believe that you are smarter than the average bear, then most of America doesn't understand this. It is easier for them to believe that "Bush is selling our jobs overseas". Basic economics like this is something most people can't grasp, unfortunately.
the "global market" didn't dictate any of this stuff in decades past. we had sane trade policies, and tariffs as needed. globalism and free trade is a sellout, the elites are selling out middle class americans. and illegal immigration is also part of that, providing a low wage pool of workers for service jobs.
since when did it become a "sin" for a restaurant to charge a price for a meal that was sufficient to provide wages for their legal workers? why is it that now in America, we feel that these business have some sort of inalienable right to illegal alien workers, so they can lower their wage costs?
Actually, most of the bargaining agreements I've seen in the last few years have involved MINIMAL pay increases--maybe 3-4% max.
The smart unions are negotiating job security. That's where the action is. Surprise, surprise!