This strikes me as a description, possibly even a caricature, of what collective bargaining has ahieved in certain scenarios. It may even describe what is an i

This strikes me as a description, possibly even a caricature, of what collective bargaining has ahieved in certain scenarios. It may even describe what is an inevitable outcome, but, absent compelling evidence, even that is merely conjecture. Otherwise, there's nothing inherent to collective bargaining that requires any of the features you mentioned. Even "collective" doesn't have to mean collectivism in the socialism/communism sense. > assembly line type work where workers are literally interchangeable Anecdotally, I've read the observation (perhaps even complaint) here on HN that employers still have a tendency to prefer their workers be more interchangeable than intelligent or individually productive. Even if this attitude is minority, but a large minority, it creates an environment where unions seem desireable.