This is history all over: the pendulum ends up swinging too far and it has to correct.
Unions came about to bring about workers rights in the industrial revolution to correct terrible working conditions. This is something that needed to happen.
Fast forward to the 1970s and the problems weren't anywhere near as severe. But power not used is power lost. If your members begin to view you as unnecessary, it's an existential threat to not only the union but those who had built their careers (political and otherwise) on the backs of that. So what happens? Any remote sleight is blown out of proportion to create controversy and fan the flames of fear among members.
In the US this dovetailed into the Reagan years. Americans had started to view unions as unnecessary and corrupt and union membership and power waned.
It also didn't help that there have been many ties between unions and organized crime.
Your story about the Portland ports comes as no surprise to me. There are countless stories like this and the "go to" defense used in making a mountain out of a mole hill is the slippery slope fallacy ("well if this electrician can be fired for coming to work drunk and killing two people then you'll be next").
It should come as no surprise that worker wages in real terms stagnated from 1980 until now.
What I hope is that the pandemic is a catalyst for this pendulum to start swinging back. I think we've had enough of Reagonomics (trickle-down economics anyone?).
Unions came about to bring about workers rights in the industrial revolution to correct terrible working conditions. This is something that needed to happen.
Fast forward to the 1970s and the problems weren't anywhere near as severe. But power not used is power lost. If your members begin to view you as unnecessary, it's an existential threat to not only the union but those who had built their careers (political and otherwise) on the backs of that. So what happens? Any remote sleight is blown out of proportion to create controversy and fan the flames of fear among members.
In the US this dovetailed into the Reagan years. Americans had started to view unions as unnecessary and corrupt and union membership and power waned.
It also didn't help that there have been many ties between unions and organized crime.
Your story about the Portland ports comes as no surprise to me. There are countless stories like this and the "go to" defense used in making a mountain out of a mole hill is the slippery slope fallacy ("well if this electrician can be fired for coming to work drunk and killing two people then you'll be next").
It should come as no surprise that worker wages in real terms stagnated from 1980 until now.
What I hope is that the pandemic is a catalyst for this pendulum to start swinging back. I think we've had enough of Reagonomics (trickle-down economics anyone?).