> a company cannot do much but pay the wages they demand. That is not a fair playing field. That is a cartel. Cartels are bad. This would be true if there were

> a company cannot do much but pay the wages they demand. That is not a fair playing field. That is a cartel. Cartels are bad. This would be true if there were no negotiations (there are.) Or if workers were all paid the same (they aren't). Workers have a cartel on wage just as much as a company has a cartel on jobs. Companies use their leverage (aka a cartel) on workers - so to combat it they organize.