When I look at Germany it looks to me that both sides are more reasonable and try to find compromise.
In the US either employers want to squeeze all they can out of the work force and get rid of unions or the unions get greedy (see police unions who happily bankrupt municipalities for their pensions). Maybe it's a reflection of the "winner takes it all" political system.
I wonder if it's that European unions have long had legitimate political clout, while it sounds like in the USA, unions have been under more suppression, and have developed tactics to match?
This is entirely based on my thoroughly unresearched preconception of the matter, BTW.
In the US either employers want to squeeze all they can out of the work force and get rid of unions or the unions get greedy (see police unions who happily bankrupt municipalities for their pensions). Maybe it's a reflection of the "winner takes it all" political system.