If the goal is an employee-centric benefits system Unions don't seem to be an appropriate hack.  Why not just break the privileged employer-employee tax relationship for things like healthcare and 401k?  Frankly, I don't see a Union-member situation as much better than employer-employee.<p>As for the office-less office: after having done the telecommuting thing for a while, I just don't see it happening in a large way.  Like the paperless office, it sounds obvious. But we'll still be talking about it being on the horizon twenty years from now.<p>Too many people in positions of influence are innately suspicious of work that doesn't manifest physically.