This systematic attack on unions is, of course, bad for working Americans. Unionized workers in the US earn more money than non-union workers with similar skills (14 percent more, according to the Economic Policy Institute). Unionized workers are 28 percent more likely to have employer provided health insurance and 54 percent more likely to have employer provided pensions. Unionized workers enjoy more vacation time, and they are more productive than non-union workers. Countries with high rates of union coverage enjoy lower rates of inequality and lower rates of poverty, and their workers enjoy greater economic security. And, further, a robust union movement raises pay and working conditions for non-union workers as well.

What’s not to like?

In 1973, 27 percent of US workers were unionized. Now, it’s just 13 percent — the lowest rate among the world’s rich (“industrialized”) countries. It is no coincidence that the U.S. is, by every reasonable measure, the most unequal of the world’s rich countries.