Nobody debates industry associations because they're just companies freely associating with each other. Those associations are, in-and-of-themselves, none of th

Nobody debates industry associations because they're just companies freely associating with each other. Those associations are, in-and-of-themselves, none of the average Joe's business. Unions by comparison are highly political due to all of the special laws governing them. Federal laws like the NLRA are everyone's business so it's only to be expected that many people are going to put in their two cents. Also, the nature of laws regarding unions is such that they can force many people, both employers and employees, to associate with a union whether they want to or not. This opens unions up to questions about their efficacy in a way that industry groups are not.