There have been several states lately that have passed or are
looking to pass bills that will severely restrict collective
bargaining rights and the ability of the unions to collect dues.
Without the ability to do those things, the unions will cease to
exist. If unions ceased to exist, would that be a bad thing?
Yes, it would be very detrimental to this country and here is
why. First, before we discuss this we need to know the history
of how unions came to be in the first place, and what their
place in America has been. At the end of the nineteenth century,
conditions for employees in this country were horrendous. The
worker had no rights and had to do whatever his employer wanted
him or her to do regardless of what that was or be fired. This
included doing things like working 6 days a week, 16 hours a
day, or working in unsafe conditions. The American worker was
being exploited and American businesses were getting rich from
that exploitation. By the turn of the twentieth century, unions
began to become more