I can imagine a version of regulated capitalism where unions are irrelevant but I don't think we live in that world nor am I sure I want government deciding all of those tradeoffs. So overall let the government set the basic floors on employment law and then let workers organize and negotiate for more (collective bargaining in general seems quite essential in a modern economy).
There are absolutely examples of unions creating barrier to competition, pushing for their own version of regulatory capture, and behaving in ways that are corrupt. But same applies to companies and CEOs.
So I believe I come down on the side of "unions with guardrails" versus no unions.
In Sweden, the unions say that the only technology they're afraid of is old technology. That costs jobs.
I can imagine a version of regulated capitalism where unions are irrelevant but I don't think we live in that world nor am I sure I want government deciding all of those tradeoffs. So overall let the government set the basic floors on employment law and then let workers organize and negotiate for more (collective bargaining in general seems quite essential in a modern economy).
There are absolutely examples of unions creating barrier to competition, pushing for their own version of regulatory capture, and behaving in ways that are corrupt. But same applies to companies and CEOs.
So I believe I come down on the side of "unions with guardrails" versus no unions.