Right. I'm just pointing out proponents of unionization usually pretend that unionization costs zero to the workers' wallets. Well, there's the dues, but in theory they pay for themselves in increased benefits, therefore any rational employee should join the union.

The elephant in the room is the migration strategies the employer starts exploring when faced with an added cost (offshoring, moving to a right-to-work state, increasing automation, switching from vertical integration to third-party contractors).

For many industries a hike in costs (with unionization related costs being one example) triggers a chain reaction causing companies to seek lower costs. This often means leaving the US or Europe.

Going to China isn't, as some like to put it, due to greedy executives. It's actually due to responsible executives who are left with not choice but to go to China. As competitors stared to offshore many, many years ago, companies who did not were left with significantly greater cost structures and unable to compete.

I had exactly that problem 15 years ago when my competitors started to manufacture products in Korea while I was manufacturing in the US. And it wasn't just about labor costs. Our supply pipeline can be incredibly expensive. Our costs are higher every step of the way, the more you "touch" a component or assembly the more cost increases. The same electronic components --same part number, same manufacturer, not clones-- can cost five or six times less in China due to supply chain advantages.

Sometimes I feel folks who push unions in the US and think they are good for workers truly don't have a clue. All one has to do is try to manufacture something, anything, in the US to start understanding why we can't think 1930's mentality will continue to work. Even something as seemingly simple as a dog leash is almost impossible to manufacture in the US on a competitive basis. People just don't get it.