The author says unions need to reinvent themselves. They are fossilized relics of a time long gone. They cannot reinvent themselves away from their communist origins. If they do they prove there is no need for them.
Virtually all of my experiences with unions have been bad. My father tried to reform the IBEW by running against the corrupt president of his local. They sent five goons to discuss it. That didn’t work as my dad had a gun when they confronted him. He lost due to a rigged election. (Thank God.)
My first job was union and the union literally drove the company into bankruptcy. I arrived at my second job, just out of college, just after they’d had a union vote and lost. Union members or pro-union sympathizers destroyed the cars of non-union sympathizers, forcing them to leave the company. (It backfired and they lost.)
When I worked at Honeywell I got set up by a few union employees. I carried a load across a yellow and black tape on the floor where only union employees could carry a load. They assaulted me and each got $250 for their trouble and I got written up.
At the next job the union people regularly sabotaged the equipment and also played tricks so they’d get bonuses and we’d get written up.
A union creates and us vs. them atmosphere that makes a company non-competitive against their non-union peers.
Unions are of lesser value than the crust in a Hobo’s underwear.
At my UFCW grocery store job I once had a issue with my direct boss, who was in another UFCW Local. I called the Union as the Shop Steward suggested.
They seemed really interested come down like a ton of bricks on the eeeevil boss, until they realized it was another Union member who cause the problem. Suddenly, their was no more problem, despite me not getting paid for the hours I worked. In the end it was the eeevil corporation who stepped up and fixed the issue.