The working man IS the consumer. My wife was a teacher in Michigan where she made a decent living ($42K/year which includes benefits). When we moved here to AZ, a right to work state (no unions), starting salary was $24,000 for a teacher fresh out of college compared to $34K in Michigan. My wife, with 5 years experience and a master's degree made $34,500, or at least she was supposed to. She had a contract that stated that. On the first day of school the district literally sat all teachers down and said, "We made a mistake on your contracts", and lowered all of their salaries by $2000. A signed legal document made no difference. If a teacher quit it was too late to find a job in another area, the school year had already started. Can't go on strike to get the money you had a legal right to, you just had to take what they offered. You could sue them, but how much would that cost? More than they were taking away. Short answer, you're screwed. If a union had been in place, there would have been a walk out and the district would have had to pay what the legal and binding document said they had to pay. No union = bend over.
Two years later, different school. All teachers were required to sign their contracts by Feb 15th or their jobs would be listed as open and they would be replaced. The problem, the district refused to put a salary number on the contract until AFTER it was signed. Do you think a union would have allowed that? This is supposedly a government entity looking out for children. If they try, and do, get away with it, imagine what a profit driven corporation would try to get away with if they could.
Yeah, back in the day. Of course there is greed and corruption in unions, but not nearly so much as there is in corporate and government America. Many of you will be on the receiving end of it one day and likely will rethink many of your comments.