You are so right: “Solidarity across industries” is urgent. And the reasons go beyond the impact on wages and job stability.

At my local, the leaders were willing to take on all kinds of discrimination: sexism, racism, the failure of management to provided needed accommodations for people with disabilities, and more. That may not have been true of all unions (especially those with the do-nothing leaders some of the other commenters have mentioned).

But collective action could make a vital difference on such workplace injustices when union leaders supported workers who were unfairly treated. And I’m afraid the U.S. is losing a sense of how much it matters with fewer strong unions to keep it alive.