&gt; How do public unions get more influence?<p>Public sector unions operate in a way analogous to private-sector unions where the union members are mostly also shareholders of the corporation for which they are employed, and work together to lobby other shareholders for action <i>as well as</i> engaging in the usual collective bargaining approaches. This is rare (though not impossible) in the private sector, though there is a private-sector business model (the union co-op model) in which the union <i>more</i> power than in any public union situation, because the union workers are the <i>entirety</i> of the ownership group, not just an important and active subset of the constituency [0].<p>[0] <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.geo.coop&#x2F;story&#x2F;unions-and-worker-co-ops-working-together" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.geo.coop&#x2F;story&#x2F;unions-and-worker-co-ops-working-t...</a>