This Steel Industry Battle Shows Why Unions Are Necessary

By Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times

As we approach Labor Day, the old question about what unions are good for is being played out in the steel industry, where Allegheny Technologies has locked out more than 2,000 workers in an effort to extract sizable concessions on health and retirement benefits from the United Steelworkers union.

Allegheny intends to replace those workers with non-union workers — in common parlance, scabs — who will be offered jobs for temporarily premium wages, no benefits, and a guarantee that they will be out of a job as soon as a new contract is signed … more