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Unions in the US are a much different beast. Counterintuitively, Unions in the US have much more legal power in some ways than international counterparts - if

Unions in the US are a much different beast. Counterintuitively, Unions in the US have much more legal power in some ways than international counterparts - if they get officially recognized. But official recognition is only workplace-to-workplace and has an election process to follow: https://www.nlrb.gov/about-nlrb/what-we-do/conduct-elections https://www.nlrb.gov/about-nlrb/what-we-do/conduct-elections Since it's more all-or-nothing per workplace, your membership is basically tied to the shop. And for some of these newer workplaces, they might not want the baggage that comes with some of the older unions. Some US unions work on a "hiring hall" model where your membership is not tied to a workplace. This includes electricians and plumbers and other tradespeople. And also actors and writers. But you cannot just join them if you want to. Generally you have to follow a several-year application or apprenticeship system.

treyd 3y ago
Also of note is that the US doesn't really have sectoral bargaining like, say, France does. This would prevent scenarios where nonunionized companices in a sector can start up and outperform established unionized ones just by hiring desperate people and paying them below the fair rate.
- Nifty3929 3y ago
  The people who get hurt the most in that case would be the employees who aren't hired and the customers who are not served by the business that therefore does not start.
  - treyd 3y ago
    Yeah and then all the companies that pay their workers well are undercut by those that don't and all the now-unemployed workers have no choice but to work for less than a fair wage. Many such cases.
- legitster 3y ago
  The US does in some sectors! But this traces all the way back to when two competing union organizations in the US (the AFL and CIO, before they merged) had major beef about how unions should operate. In the end, the CIO's model mostly won out. It would be really hard to do sectoral bargaining in the US because there are vastly different costs of living across the country but each state is required to have free trade with each other. So to have New York workers bargaining for Alabama workers or vis versa would be a disaster. It should also be worth pointing out that countries with sectoral bargaining also have huge number of self-employed and sole enterprise people. France has something like 2-3 times the number of self-employed people, and my understanding is that it's one of the only ways people in these economies can "opt-out" of bargaining agreements.

treyd 3y ago

Also of note is that the US doesn't really have sectoral bargaining like, say, France does. This would prevent scenarios where nonunionized companices in a sector can start up and outperform established unionized ones just by hiring desperate people and paying them below the fair rate.

Nifty3929 3y ago
The people who get hurt the most in that case would be the employees who aren't hired and the customers who are not served by the business that therefore does not start.
- treyd 3y ago
  Yeah and then all the companies that pay their workers well are undercut by those that don't and all the now-unemployed workers have no choice but to work for less than a fair wage. Many such cases.
legitster 3y ago
The US does in some sectors! But this traces all the way back to when two competing union organizations in the US (the AFL and CIO, before they merged) had major beef about how unions should operate. In the end, the CIO's model mostly won out. It would be really hard to do sectoral bargaining in the US because there are vastly different costs of living across the country but each state is required to have free trade with each other. So to have New York workers bargaining for Alabama workers or vis versa would be a disaster. It should also be worth pointing out that countries with sectoral bargaining also have huge number of self-employed and sole enterprise people. France has something like 2-3 times the number of self-employed people, and my understanding is that it's one of the only ways people in these economies can "opt-out" of bargaining agreements.