-It is a figure of speech. Union membership is steadily declining relative -to employment -http://www.bls.gov/news.release/union2.nr0.htm -and currently it is 12.5% of wage and salary workers - down from 20.1% in -1983. That rate for private sector is 7.8% in 2005, down by 0.1% from 2004. -If the trend continues, the unions will all but disappear from the private -sector in 10 or so years.
So should we euthanize the ACLU or rest of the progressive non-profit groups whose memberships are far smaller than the unions-- and have far fewer resources?
Unions have well over 15 million members still, which gives them greater political and social power, since they can regularly communicate with those members on a range of issues.
I always find these discussions kind of bizarre-- unions not only directly have $5-6 billion annually in income, but they indirectly control or influence trillions of dollars in private and public pension fund monies.
We can all debate how the unions can more effectively use those resources, but even talking about ignoring such a level of social resources verges on the unreal.
Nathan Newman