Why Do We Need Unions?

The steady improvement in working conditions and compensation is historically demonstrated to have begun at the very beginning of the Industrial Revolution so add another half century. It had nothing whatsoever to do with laws either; it was entirely the result of capitalism.

The most efficient way to pay all production workers would be based on productivity or piece work. Each product manufactured in the US has a pre-calculated labor cost factored in. If the market value of a "Widget" is $1.00 and the material and overhead cost comes to 60 cents and labor cost is factored in at 30 cents then the manufacturer can count on a 10 cent profit for each Widget. Rather than paying production workers an arbitrary hourly wage a 10 cent per piece would give them the opportunity to earn more by producing more per hour. This would regulate the size of the workforce and give everyone the chance to earn more if they were willing. Unions hate this because it kills their hidden agenda.

Ooops should ready 30 cents per piece.

I agree, I was union and a journeyman car painter, at the time take home was $125 a week, I migrated to a non union area where the wage was based on percentage of hours on repair order, funny thing I now worked my but off but take home was $ 500.00 a week on percentage, and I had all the bennies as I had in the union, Why on earth would I want a union ? also if you worked as hard in a union shop the steward would come over an tell you to knock it off you were making the rest of the workers look bad. Union ? No Thanks they are a drag on this country.

This still leaves a question about compensation for "non-production" writers, actors/actresses, athletes, and other entertainers. They don't perform "piece" work, so compensation can't follow this model for those types of activities?

It seems these "laborers" work from a minimum baseline and guess about fair market value of their products and services for above baseline compensation.