The series of articles entitled ”Downshifting” neglected to discuss one of the most significant reasons for the demise of the unions, i.e., the intra- generational conflict between the World War II veterans, who built the unions into the powerhouses that they were in the `50s, `60s and `70s, and the lower-class Baby Boomers, who entered the blue-collar work force in subsequent decades.
The veterans used their power to create the blue-collar middle class, and, for the most part, sent their children to college to become lawyers, doctors, academics and MBAs; they took care of themselves and their own and could not have cared less for the younger people entering the blue-collar work force.
In the `70s and `80s unions could have negotiated contracts that preserved the number of union jobs and protected the futures of the younger workers, but they chose instead to grab as much as they could for themselves and let the next generation take care of itself.
