Is the pendulum of power swinging towards US unions? | Robert Reich

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

62% : To do this, corporations had to bust unions - outsourcing jobs abroad, moving to anti-union (AKA "right-to-work") states and firing workers who tried to organize.
56% : The result was a dramatic decline in the bargaining power of ordinary workers.
55% : If they succeed in slowing the economy to the point where workers lose whatever bargaining leverage they now have, it's far from clear that populist politics or more vivid inequalities or a string of labor victories will be enough to put organized labor on the path to where it was four decades ago.
53% : It's still awaiting a vote by union members, but it's a big deal - a 25% wage increase over the four and a half years of the contract, cost-of-living increases that will further ratchet up hourly pay, the right to strike over plant closures and a shorter time period for workers to reach top pay.
51% : What accounts for this burst of labor activism, remarkable run of labor victories and public support of unions? Partly, I think, it's the harsh inequalities exposed by the pandemic.
49% : Today, unionized workers comprise just 6% of private-sector workers (10% of all workers belong to a union but many work in the public sector).
45% : And it could be a sign of more to come for workers - unless the Fed undermines them again The United Auto Workers has scored a major victory.
44% : Couple this with the rise in populist politics - starting with Bernie Sanders' surprisingly strong showing in 2016 while Donald Trump posed as the "voice" of workers - in a system looking increasingly rigged against average people.

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