It amazes me sometimes to hear people say they think "unions have too much power." You hear it all the time, at least I do, even from "ordinary" working people. What are they thinking, I wonder? Do you mean, I ask, that in the balance of power between union workers and corporations, union workers have become too strong? 
"Well uh, I don't know. Maybe, they say."
You mean, I point out helpfully, that union workers have been able to force the bosses to pay them decent wages and benefits, and that's not fair?
"Well, no, not exactly, is their response."
Then, is it because union workers have become so powerful that they can force the boss to pay women as much as they pay men?
Do you have a problem with that, I ask? They are shaking their heads and back-pedaling at this one.
Wait, I say. Maybe it's that union workers have become so powerful they can force the boss to hire minority workers. Is that it?
This one is often met with an embarrassed silence and their eyes look away.
Maybe it's because union workers have been able to force governments to pass good laws protecting their rights. Is that it? No?
Then it must be that union workers force governments to pass laws making it easier to organize new workplaces. 
"That's not really it either, they say."
At this point, still struggling to figure out what they mean when they say unions are too powerful, sometimes I might launch into a little bit of labor history. You mean, like when union workers demanded laws to get children out of the mines and factories. You mean today's union workers are too powerful like that? This usually does not get a positive answer either, and I continue to fish for the answer as to why these people think unions are too powerful.
Maybe, I say, it's like the times when union workers demanded a 40-hour workweek, and went on strike all over the place to gain it, and won.
Usually by this point they are beginning to backtrack and avoid any further discussion about the power of union workers, and some of them even admit that they were wrong in their assessment that unions are too powerful. Union workers? It's obvious, we have the power, whether some people like it or not!

From the speeches of Abraham Lincoln

Negotiations for a new National Master Freight Agreement are rapidly approaching. Negotiations are expected to begin in November. As in the past, Freight Negotiations will be hard fought in 2003. As a member of the Union Negotiating Committee, I, along with our Freight Members will be striving to make positive changes in both the Master Freight Agreement and our Western States Supplement. Some of the priority issues will be; protecting health & welfare coverage without co-payments for active employees; substantially reducing the cost of retiree health care coverage; decent wage and pension increases; re-structuring and improving the grievance procedure, including restoring the right to strike when grievances deadlock at the National Grievance Committee; stronger language to put a stop to the subcontracting of Teamster freight work; provide stronger language for job security, and much more. I will again appoint a contract committee made up of elected Local 439 Freight Stewards who will be working with me to address the items which need to be changed in the National Master Freight Agreement and Western States Supplement. We will then conduct contract proposal meetings for all Local 439 NMFA Teamsters, and together, develop our proposals to take to the bargaining table. All Local 439 NMFA Freight Teamsters will also receive a contract questionnaire form to list your proposals in writing by priority. Again, I do anticipate a tough fight with the Freight Employers in the 2003 negotiations and strongly encourage Local 439 Freight Teamsters to be prepared. The 2003 negotiations may be the most important in the Teamster Freight Industry in the last 20 years. With a strong team of Union Negotiators and a united rank & file of Freight Teamsters, we will prevail!