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As more workers lose manufacturing jobs as companies cut back, some are being forced into lower-paying retail jobs. But they still have union cards in their wallets.

This is the crux of the problem: because the Republicans and the right wing have been successful in almost eliminating unions, everyone else has suffered as a result.

Many people do not realize that where unions have bargaining rights employers cannot raise wages or improve benefit plans any more than they can reduce them without of the consent of the union.

I'm not going to stop beating up on the unions.

I'm from a working-class background, and I've experienced that worry of not having a job next week because the unions are going on strike.

Private sector labors unions continue to suffer losses in their membership while public sector and service unions grow.

Any union that can't accept workers choosing their own representatives through universal franchise is finished.

What's going on in this country? Unions stand against those trends. We've got to somehow insulate the robust American economy from this global economy that seems to want to devour our standard of living.

The unions claim the deck is stacked against them when it comes to labor laws, but the truth is many private and public sector workers are forced to pay union dues as a condition of their employment, yet they have little say in how the unions spend their money.

My problem with unions is they breed mediocrity.