...yes, there were "free traders" who enabled the erosion of the unions. One major problem is/was the unions themselves. Many became inclusive and caught up in their own infighting...others became cozy with management and sacraficed those vested against those who werent that created a lot of bad will over the years. We saw union membership drop steadily over the years...this weakened the unions enough to allow their political clout to drop. That...along with a long time feeling that a lot of the union bashing rushpublicans did was just pure talk...now they know its more than that. But by the time they did, it was too late...rushpublicans used grassroots...taking over county boards and then set their sights on state legislatures that are now doing the dirty work of the big money that helped get them there.
My hope is these over-reaches has woken up a sleeping giant...we need a far stronger and wide spread union movement than we have right now. It needs to be "cool" to hold a union card and for generations that aren't familiar with what the labor movement is about to find how they can be a positive force in American society. Win hearts and minds and elections and legislation will follow...
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