Believe it or not, I have battled unions myself regarding ridiculous rules and processes. I don’t call these things out on this site because there is plenty of vitriol without my adding to it. That being said, there are reasons (labor protections of various sorts) for many of their “rules,” even if they tend to go over the top in their application and enforcement.
Yes, there are safeguards in place like OSHA and FLSA, etc., thanks to massive union efforts, but private corporations have been chipping away at these protections over the years, and they are chomping at the bit in anticipation of the decimation of the few remaining unions. Without public sector unions, I give it 5-10 years before most of these worker protections are whittled away to almost nothing. That, and the privatization of public resources, public services, and cash flows, is what this anti-union movement is all about.
The attack on govt workers/unions is NOT about saving taxpayers/consumers money, and private sector workers will NOT benefit in any way from the destruction of public sector unions. I’d wager that they will see their overall compensation cut as a result of the weakened public sector unions because their employers will not have to compete with the public sector for employees. The overall supply of good, middle-class jobs (public sector jobs that have always been available to the general public) has just been reduced by a very large fraction. I fail to see how workers of any stipe will benefit from this.
