Smart academic Richard Yeselson has a review of a book about American strikes in The Nation.

The strike once one a great American tradition but it gradually declined, as labor unions themselves have weakened:

One way to deal with this is to make it easier to join a union for those who want to. In 2009 this took the form of the Employee Free Choice Act, which would empower employees to join unions with a simple “card check” — if the majority of a workplace signs a union card, you’re in. The bill faced overwhelming corporate opposition and was not passed, despite support from the Obama administration.

Contrary to what some may claim, unions have been the strongest check on income inequality in the modern economy, not taxes. Empowering unions would make it a lot easier to reduce inequality, yet no major contender for the presidency is making labor law reform a priority, unlike in 2008.