Business Law: I think that unions have their place when employers feel that they can have the upper hand in how they treat their employees. Most unions were found in manufacturing and I would have to say that back in the day most factory workers were not college graduates, unlike their company executives. It was easy for company owners to put clauses in legalese and small print so as to keep the working class under their control. This drove blue collar workers to join unions for protection against being exploited. Having a union looking at worker's contracts slowed down the company's ability to make changes without someone looking at the fine print. It also gave a means for workers to understand what practices were going on in their industry and understand how that might compare to their working situation. As the industry structure of our economy has become more technical it has changed the requirements for industrial workers. Now more and more of these jobs require a college degree to run complicated machining programs and robotics. There is also a flip in the work force as our workforce now has more career options many are choosing not to engage in manufacturing, heavy construction or trades. This is causing a shortage of a qualified workforce. As an example, This Old House put out a call for people who were interested in learning the carpenter's trade. Likewise, there is a real problem finding steel construction workers. Today's generation doesn't want to work that hard or in a hazardous environment. I think that Unions are declining because manufacturing companies are realizing that if they don't start making their jobs more attractive they will just be short of employees. Gone are the days when you can just hire the next guy in line. People are just not applying to these jobs like they used to. Eventually, wages will become a war with the employer with the highest pay and best "perks" will have the employees. I have already witnessed this in my own job. We can not keep people because they don't want to do the job for the pay being offered. My co-workers get upset that management is not hiring people. I have told them plenty of times, you can't hire people who are not applying for the job. This is sure to make the HR recruiting job very challenging! Insights from the baby boomer generation.