Did you actually believe alot of what Naomi Klein wrote about Milton Friedman? Have you ever read Milton Friedman? Because anybody with even a cursory knowledge of the guy knows it was a gross misrepresentation. See this review of the book, for example.

Don’t trust its economics either. For example, even liberal economist Dani Rodrik says the book is garbage…see here.

Strikes in Toronto led to the legalizing of unions in Canada, and after that point they succeeded in reducing the work hours to 6days*9hours, and later added things like employment insurance and universal health insurance.

Without the time of social forces unions brought (whether it was actually unions or not) children were the cheap workers instead of third world nations. People were whipped and beaten if they didn’t make quota.

I really don’t like 90% of what unions do today, but historically they were necessary when our politics was run by a few elitist rich men.

In answer to the “if you work hard, there will always be work for you,” line—that’s great if your health lasts. Most employers would still fire someone who got hurt at work if it wasn’t illegal—after all they can’t afford to pay someone who isn’t working.

Personally, however, I don’t understand the requirement to join a union—it’s completely undemocratic. I think that you should have the choice to opt out of a union, and I think that unions should not have a monopoly—if 30% of the workers join one union, and 40% join another and 30% opt out, that should be fine. It will make for chaos during contract talks, but eventually people will either get behind the more effective union or get rid of it altogether.

If you opt out, though you should not automatically benefit from union contracts—you should have to set up your own contracts with your employer. Obviously, one of your arguments can be—”if you don’t treat me well I’ll go join the union.”