But it works both ways.

Florida is a right-to-work state, and even if there is a union, you are under no obligation to join it. In my union jobs, a lot of the workers refused to pay the dues, and bragged about how ineffective and crooked unions were, and how their seniority rules worked against the real go-getters.

But when bossman started firing people because they had to much seniority and were making too much money, or because their age made them a health risk for the health insurance, guess who were the first guys to go crying to the union trying to join up and have someone on their side? It was too late.

When benefits started getting cut or the rules started changing to favor new and young over old and senior workers, then everyone started whining "How can this be? I've given this outfit the best years of my life and now they're giving me the sack just before I qualify for the retirement they promised me."

I know this to be true because they tried to do it to me. I was lucky and was able to retire early with most of my benefits before they changed the rules on us. And I had the time to make my plans because a union was fighting management and stalling for time. But many of my fellow workers got screwed. They lost much of what they were building up for years, if they were lucky enough to have a job at all. When times get tough, people start putting rocks in their snowballs, both labor and management. It's a jungle out there. Management has to make a profit, and labor has to make a living. If they can't negotiate a middle way, there will be war and someone will lose.

Unions are not a cure-all, and there is no guarantee they won't be crooked or inefficient, or even in cahoots with management to help screw the worker. And yes, times do change and they have to give sometimes, you can't always get what you want, as the Rolling Stones remind us. And if you take no interest in how your union is run and don't get involved in its affairs, it will start worrying about its survival instead of yours.

But the competition between labor and management is not played on a level playing field. Management has all the advantages and all the power because they are one voice, and the workers are many. Unions are the only levelor the workers have.

The rise of unions has given the working man a voice in how his working life is arranged. He had a fighting chance. They have played a major role in the rise of the standard of living of the American worker for the last century. And it was not a gift from management, those rights were won with blood and strikes and our parents and grandparents getting the shit kicked out of them on picket lines by company goons and government bayonets.

Without them, we would slide inevitably back to the pre-union days of the 19th century and the Gilded Age, when workers were squeezed dry in unhealthy and dangerous jobs with long hours, no pay, and no security, and the owners froliced in extravagant mansions in the Hudson River Valley.

And by the way, I don't want to hear any whining about extravagant government worker pensions, either. I was classified management/professional, no union, and had 20 years in the saddle when I retired, and my monthly pension is $1750. If it wasn't for Social Security (about the same) I would qualify for food stamps.