Unions in the US appear to be pretty screwed up. I see a union as a way of obtaining a balance of power between powerful corporations and individual employees.

Unions in the US appear to be pretty screwed up. I see a union as a way of obtaining a balance of power between powerful corporations and individual employees. The reason US unions are bad are - you can't generally choose between competing unions - unions monopolize industries and/or professions In other first world countries you generally have a choice about which union you join and there aren't any jobs which require union membership. Unions can be useful to - have qualified people on your side in case of a problem with your employer - influence political decisions to protect and improve employees rights I'm pretty sure the lack of functioning unions is the reason the US is the only 1st world country that doesn't guarantee health care for it's workers, and that wages have stagnated over the last 35 years or so. Of course the system is so entrenched it seems very unlikely anything will change in the foreseeable future.