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As the video mentions, unions do in fact raise wages for the few lucky ones who are able to obtain membership in one, but at the expense of everyone else, resulting in a net loss overall (higher prices, lower wages, less efficient companies, lower levels of employment). This is evidenced by analysis of countries with high union membership vs those with lower union membership - there is no increase in prosperity to the working class in the high union membership countries.
I love to see the way anti-union arguments bounce between sympathy for those who are "forced" to join a union and admiration for those who are "lucky"to join a union.
I was having coffee with a group of old friends and one of them, who happens to be a certified financial planner(not really sure what that means) made a nasty crack about unions. I said that was a strange attitude for a union member to take. He was a little offended that I would call him a union member, but I explained.
A union is group that keeps wages high for its member by restricting who can enter a particular job category, right?
He agreed, with a very irritating grin.
"You have a license from a state financial planner board, right? (that's the certified part). No one can become a certified financial planner without their approval, which limits who can be a financial planner, means you can charge higher prices. That makes it a union."
At the time, I was an auto mechanic. On any day of the week, I repaired anti-lock brakes systems, diagnosed malfunctioning airbags(known as supplemental passive restraints) and all the other electronic systems in a modern automobile. The was not, and still is not a state board to limit who could work on cars. I had many years of training and experience, but I only needed two things in order to be a mechanic. The first was a desire to work on cars. The second someone willing to pay me to do it. The rest was superfluous.
I don't know of a state in the Union where a person can charge money to represent a person in court, if he has not passed an exam administered by other attorneys. It doesn't matter how much time one spends in law school. In fact, you don't to go to law school. The Bar Exam is what allows one into the group.
There are similar state sanctioned boards for barbers, hairdressers, and even people who clip fingernails.
If we are going to bring unions into question and ask if they are really good for society in general, lets talk about all of them, not just the blue collar unions.
+1 And please don't forget about the biggest union of them all, the American Medical Association.