Unions were created to help level the playing field between management and labor. They served that purpose pretty well. But, as in most bureaucracies, they outgrew their function. After negotiating with management for several decades, the unions themselves began to dictate policy, especially wage and benefit policy, and became something akin to what they were trying to eliminate. Thus the underdog became the 'overdog' as it were.
In today's world of instant and constant communication, I think we see many examples of proper negotiations between labor and management without the need for, especially 'mandatory' union membership.
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