Think Big: For labor law, we have to go back to the future

This piece details the graduation reduction in the legal power of progressive labor law and its effects on unions and the strength of the middle class over the past 50 years. Laws that protected unions' right to strike and also to participate in secondary or sympathy strikes have been eviscerated with news laws such as Taft-Hartley that severely restricted the ability to apply leverage against employers in disputes. Other laws undermined negotiated agreements between employers and unions that prohibited many forms of direct action and protest from unionized workers. The result is a country and labor force with a steep decline in middle class prosperity with few options available to reverse this trend. The author contends that labor must reinvent itself, and reinvigorate the public debate, in order to reclaim the rights of labor to fully organize and collaborate in actions designed to secure greater bargaining power on behalf of working people. 
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/06/19/984611/-Think-Big:-For-labor-law,-we-have-to-go-back-to-the-future?utm