Unions: Where did the U.S.A. go wrong?

[Lemur]

Prompted by a sub-topic in another thread.

What's the hate against trade unions in America? Without it you'll probably be in the same working conditions as in the Industrial Revolution.

In fairness to Republicans, we Americans have really screwed the union thing up. I know, I know, it works fine in Japan and South Korea and Germany, but somehow we got the whole union concept upside down. I'm not sure how we did it.

Most of the things we thank unions for are now matters of law (no 90-hour workweeks, child labor, etc.), so maybe our unions just got lost once they won. Or something. I don't really know, and haven't studied the subject in depth. But I do know that other countries make the union thing work, and we don't.

Not quite. I know it's common for people to assume that unions just phased out because they weren't needed anymore, but the fact that productivity has skyrocketed over the last 40 years while wages have largely stagnated turns that theory on its head. The real reason unions don't hold much sway is because they've had their power forcibly stripped from them by conservative leglislation; i'ts not like America has some unique trait that stops unioins from being doable like they are everywhere else.

Bull jabarto. Unions have way to much power and its not good. Its a legitimate economic belief unions aren't needed when workers gain a voice and protection.

The reason unions are nigh on useless in the US is because they are greedy for power and money and influence. Workers left them because they realized unions protect useless people with seniority at the expense of those who are more competent.

Teacher's unions protect those who sexually harass students and make it impossible to fire them in some cases.

Police unions protect those dangerously incompetent or violent.

I don't know what is worse, working in a place with corrupt unionizing or working in a country without unions period.

Which was followed by some complex cross-quoting posts that I don't know how to reproduce.

Again, if we accept that unions are messed up in America, this raises some questions:

1. Why do unions seem to be so much less screwed-up in places such as Japan and Germany? What are they doing right that we are doing wrong?
2. How/why did American unions become so adversarial?
3. Are unions in the U.S.A. fixable? Should they be fixed?
4. If unions evaporate from the economic life of America, what will the net effect be?
5. Are unions replaceable by labor laws?

I'd be interested to hear from anyone who has made a real study of the subject (which I have not). Skip the political talking points about how all unions are bad or how all unions are good, please. Clearly they can be a bit of both, and just as clearly we in the U.S.A. missed the boat somehow.