system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: How do unions work? How did they get in power and give us rights?
gpt
The power comes from the power of the strike. If one employee gets fed up and threatens to walk out, so what? He will be replaced. But, if the entire crew walks out, it shuts down the operation. If all the employees in other operations within the company join in solidarity with their union brothers and also walk off the job, the entire corporation can be brought to a standstill. If the company wants to run its operations, it will have to make an equitable deal with the union and get them to go back to work. Strikes are not to be taken lightly, and there is always pain on both sides, but it is the only power a union has.