Crossposted from my personal blog on the nether reaches of the internet.
These past few weeks have seen Wisconsin and several of its Midwestern brethren engulfed in near-historic labor protests over the right to bargain as one body. In these tough economic times, it has been handy to find a scapegoat, and public employees, despite in good times making less salary than their private counterparts (assuming you use real statistics, instead of comparing across the field), are convenient due to their general job security compared to private employees. The government needs firefighters after all, so to hell with them!
Though America is nowhere near the country of unions of say, Sweden, the few union members we have do important work- rattling the cage for worker's rights. They've done it for a century and more, and will continue to do it.
Child labor, sixteen hour days, locked doors, no fire exits, no breaks, dangerous machinery, substandard wages, wage theft, unsanitary conditions. The 19th and early 20th century had workplaces filled with hazards- does anyone remember why the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire was so tragic? They locked the doors from the outside, so the women working had to jump from the top story.
Union agitation has given us holidays, paid overtime, sick leave, and the now-ubiquitous eight-hour work day. And it's because of something similar to herd immunity- not everyone has to be in a union for society as a whole to benefit. Once employers realize the danger of not giving into demands, they see what could happen- what if everyone got together and joined a union! Part of why union membership is so low is because employers have given in so early to demands in order to stifle organization- as collective bargaining can cripple even the largest businesses, or a whole country (hell, in France it's a national pastime).
So we go to Wisconsin, and we see what Governor Scott Walker is thinking. Collective bargaining is people power, plain and simple. It's a threat to his ego and his personal authority. But by attacking the union, he's awoken a latent power- that of the clenched fist of labor, which from time to time says "no more!"