I wouldn't say that the unions got us into this mess. While they have certainly helped push it along, I'd place the blame on the total incompetent management first.
Not to come out as a pro-union sympathizer, but you have to remember the context of the beginning of the unions. The union I was in, a Merchant Sailor union, was started in the 1930's to improve the working conditions of the sailors. Conditions were so bad on the ships at that time, that the companies would barely feed the sailors. A guy I knew said that the shipping company only supplied cow tongues and ox tails, and every meal was either cow tongue or ox tails. They wondered what happened to the rest of the cow. They striked and people died, quite a few, over having canned milk available for the sailors on the ships. Yes, people died over canned milk. To this day, that milk (now typically Long Life radiated milk in sealed cartons, not canned) is referred to as "Paul Hall Milk" by the sailors, after the man that started the merchant sailor labor unions.
Fast forward 70-80 years and times have changed a lot. Unions are now primarily set up to perpetuate the unions and union officials. There are a lot of issues, and frequently you are better off negotiating with the company directly rather than having the union involved. When the Big 2.5 were making money, spending some of it to pay workers $75/hr to play cards seemed like an acceptable expense. Or $75/hr to put a left speaker in if that vehicle had one, otherwise drink coffee. Whatever. Today that doesn't work. Of course, the worker doesn't get that money either. The worker is lucky to get a third. The union gets a third and the government gets a third. That's the way it works today.
