Quote:President-elect Donald Trump’s Twitter attack this week on a union official, followed by his choice of a labor secretary who has criticized new worker protections, has rattled leaders of the American labor movement, who fear unions may be facing their gravest crisis in decades.
thugness
The big threat to unions isn't Trump other than in how he is facilitating the consolidation of the power of other entities and individuals who have been purposefully working to dis-empower unions for many decades.
Unions, like government, pose real constraints on large business interests which by their nature are driven to maximize profit. These entities, again by their nature, are amoral. The drive to reduce the effective power of government and unions is a consequence of that particular dynamic.
Thus one thing to continue watching now will be the disparity between Trump's rhetoric re trade agreements and the reality of what he and those around him now actually do. If, for example, energy interests in the US can forge or strengthen international agreements such that local governments are denied substantial means of legally challenging/curtailing the industry's activities (on frakking, say, or on pollution) they'll do so in a heartbeat.
Imagining Trump will stand steadfast against such powerful interests because he's more concerned about the welfare of some bunch of nobodies in Podunk is to be sucked in all the way to the bottom by a talented con man.
