I think unfortunately just a lot of the jobs disappeared, sent elsewhere. Much of North America has been in deep decline for 50 years and the unions didn't prevent that.

The thing that's required is for the working class to have more bargaining power, but the union isn't that -- its just the manifestation of power they already had.

I think the things that need to happen are for the upcoming population collapse to occur. Historically, its those eras where working class people get power back. If we're lucky it'll be peaceful, but in previous eras it got really bloody, such as the French civil war.