[InTheArena]

Unions in the United States are adversarial and corporate. They are institutions and powers in and off themselves, which makes them far different from their generally much less militant European cousins. The adversarial part means much more willingness to engaged in scorched earth outcomes (by both companies and unions). Unions have taken over corporations (United Airlines for example), destroyed corporations (Eastern / National). Unions compete with each other as well.

[djbebs]

That's the same as in europe, except perhaps that in europe often specific unions are associated with specific political parties and act in conjunction.

[snowpid]

No, in Europe, every country is very different on that topic. Just compare Switzerland vs. France.