Richie, I say the following with a heck of a lot of respect for you. I like reading all of your posts. You are very intelligent, well spoken and respectful. I am just going to say something for you to think about. It is my opinion and because I know you are thoughtful and very intelligent, I hope you will think about it and not take in any shape, form or fashion as disrespectful.

Before unions and the minimum wage laws in this country, the free market system in America worked and Americans did pretty well for themselves and their families. Even now, how many people in the US are members of trade unions? About 12.3 percent of salary and wage earners are union members and the numbers are declining.

In the overall scheme of life, labor unions benefit their members. And that is fine for union members. But to say their wages benefit others workers isn't really a true statement. In 2009, according to the US Dept. of Labor, "among full-time wage and salary workers, union members had median usual weekly earnings of $908, while those who were not represented by unions had median weekly earnings of $710. (My opinion, that that $710 isn't so bad for nonunion. How much more could good workers earn if their pay was based on performance and productivity?)

"The largest numbers of union members lived in California (2.5 million) and New York (2.0 million). About half of the 15.3 million union members in the U.S. lived in just 6 states (California, 2.5 million; New York, 2.0 million; Illinois, 1.0 million; Pennsylvania, 0.8 million; and Michigan and New Jersey, 0.7million each), though these states accounted for only one-third of wage and
salary employment nationally."

Closed shops deny people a choice and deny people freedoms to do business with whomever they choice. Unions recognize the way to get power is to have the federal government on their side. Why are so many unions headquartered in DC? Federal workers get a great degree of security and lots of fringe benefits.

Government and trade unions protect their workers and their members at someone else's expense. Restriction of entry into an occupation because of unions does so at the expense of other workers who find their opportunities reduced. Governments pay workers higher wages are at the expense of the taxpayers.

Free market and competition for the best workers and workers competing for the best jobs results in higher productivity, greater capital investment, greater diffused skills, all this makes the entire free market work at it's best for the benefit of the employers, workers, consumers and taxpayers.

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/union2.nr0.htm