> No strikes? No "derogatory remarks"? No rights were sacrificed at all?
Let's go over this calculus again. Given the current state of US labor law, it's incredibly hard to organize unions in America. It's too easy for the boss to defeat union drives. This fact is evidenced by the lack of new organizing activity. One thing that some unions have found can be successful is Corporate Social Responsibility campaigns, which put pressure on employers to stop bad business practices -- practices which include preventing their employees from organizing. In the election agreements which are the result of such campaign, unions typically will agree not to strike for recognition or a first contract (the courts have decreed that during the life of a contract there's a de facto no strike clause, even if one has not been negotiated) and agree not to continue the negative publicity of a CSR campaign in exchange for the boss's agreement not to fight organizing drives at certain worksites.
In the current political and legal context, this strategy works. Others haven't. The idea is to build density to change the political landscape. What would you do differently?