You're basically a perfect example of someone I was just complaining about- that just because unions come with their own set of problems, everything about them is terrible and unneeded.

My point about child laborers and workplace safety is that unions improved those things.

And, more to the point, they would not have happened WITHOUT unions.

Yes, we have a minimum wage, now. But do you really think that would have happened if so many unions hadn't fought for fair wages over the years?

And so now you and others say, "oh, they were great, but they're a thing of the past." Which is just... odd. Have big companies suddenly gotten more altruistic? Have people working to barely make ends meet somehow become less exploitable?

I of course agree that unions- especially large, entrenched unions- can have their own problems. But it's pretty naive to say, "Oh, the unions fixed all those problems in the past, so now we don't need them- the federal government can just take care of it!"