In manufacturing, unions have far outlived their usefulness. We now live in a global economy. The jobs that manufacturing unions once protected, they now chase outside US borders. The UAW is by far the worst, but examples can be found everywhere in manufacturing. I have less of an issue with trade unions...plumbers, electricians, etc. The still have a place, but I personally don't use union labor when it comes to my house or my business. Isn't a union just an outgrowth of Communism anyway? Redistribution of wealth...everyone gets the same wage...reduced competition among workers...all that stuff?