I get the asymmetry in power but I also feel that imbalance is fair because the power is earned, by creating value for others and being successful in the market

I get the asymmetry in power but I also feel that imbalance is fair because the power is earned, by creating value for others and being successful in the market. There are also different companies competing with each other and creating choice for both labor and consumers (and where there isn't competition, we should enforce anti-trust laws). What I don't get is how unions are any different from the kind of local monopoly we dislike in cable companies, or a cartel (when a union operates broadly across an industry). They inhibit competition and choice, and limit liquidity in the labor market through their policies. They override individual freedoms - and I don't mean just for the corporation who is forced into a contract with them, but also because they force everyone else who wants to work to join their organization and pay dues. Often time, paying dues also means supporting these organizations' activities that go beyond bargaining for working conditions or wages. For example, the NEA (the main teachers union, which is the largest union in the US) frequently engages in politics and adopts progressive political positions as their official positions/guiding principles. This type of monolithic centralization feels undesirable to me for the same reason monopolies feel undesirable. In my opinion, the balance would be better if we let people organize without reprisal but requiring that what results is simply a separate entity (a separate company) who is selling their labor and has to survive based on their economic competitiveness. That way there is still choice and competition in labor. As for the dire picture you paint of favelas - maybe there's some minimum safety net we need to provide (which we have in the form of welfare, SNAP, and more). But if we're talking about generational issues - I also feel people should not have children if they cannot afford to raise them well. Otherwise, what we're saying is that people can keep supplying unskilled laborers and the rest of society is obligated to employ them at certain wages or otherwise support them. That seems unfair to me in a different way.