The 1st real union in this country was the Coal Miners Union. It came into being due to companies' abuses of employees & the horrid safety conditions. A miner lived in a company house, bought his groceries at the company store, worked 12 hours or more 7 days a week, & when he was killed on the job, ( which was often ), his body was brought back to the house in the back of a wagon & dumped on the porch. If the widow could not replace him @ the mine with a son or brother, she was thrown out of the house. After violent strikes & organizing, the Coal Miners Union stopped these abuses & improved safety conditions in the mines. In Pennsylvania the founder of United Coal Miners Union was memorialized with an official state holiday, each year on his birthday. The Teamsters also fought to improve working conditions & implement safety rules.
So far, so good. Then the Unions got greedy. They abused their power for greatly increased wages & benefits & restrictive work rules, often out of line with the average wage of the time. Some will argue that without unions the average wage would still be low. Perhaps; but I maintain that many unions have priced their members out of the market. Consider the following :
1) How much of the " U.S. " Auto Industry is actually left in the U.S. ??? How many of the foreign auto companies' U.S. plants are unionized ???
2) How much of the U.S. Trucking Industry is unionized today ??? How about 40 years ago ???
3) Why did Boeing decide to build their new 787 assembly plant in " Right to Work " state South Carolina ??? I won a $100 bet with a Boeing employee friend by saying the Machinists going on strike a couple of years ago would end up with just this result.
The Machinists Union here in Puget Sound is so arrogant, they printed up shirts before their last contract negotiation saying;" It's Our Time This Time ". They were bound & determined to screw Boeing for every dollar they could get, and many were actually looking forward to going on strike !!! Sad thing is, the Machinists were mostly mad at themselves, for NOT garnering enough votes to authorize a strike after they voted no to the previous contract several years before !!! By not approving a strike, the contract went into effect anyways.
Back in the 1930's, trucking companies would run their drivers literally into the ground with work assignments for 24 - 36 hours straight. Same with the Railroads, only 15 years earlier. The Federal Hours of Service rules are a direct result of rail & Teamsters unions' safety efforts. Automatic couplers, uniform grab iron & stirrup step placement,power steering & air brakes on trucks; all important safety regulations spearheaded by unions.
But what about the truck driver @ a union company, who doesn't have to hook up to his trailer if a hostler is on duty, and receives penalty pay for doing it if there isn't a hostler on duty ??? How about the famous Railroad Fireman Featherbedding issues of the 1960's ??? Were these examples of Unions being greedy ???
BTW, I would only consider someone a "scab " IF they accept a non - union job at a unionized company that is on strike, or one that recently " replaced " its' union employees with non - union. If a company ( shortline RR or trucking co. ) is created from scratch as a non - union workplace, then their employees are not considered scabs in my opinion.