The semantics and messaging raised concerns beyond the dues conversation. In pro-union placard after pro-union placard, messages proclaimed such slogans as “The union is on your side.” In the many videos flowing out of Bessemer on social media, activists and organizers regularly talk about “the union,” as if a union is something other than the workers who are trying to form one. A better slogan would have been, “When workers unite, real change happens,” or anything that didn’t make “the union” sound like a building name or street address.

Crucial point. It seems as though "union" is now alienated from it's origins as a means to describe a group of workers uniting to address shared grievances. You see this in recent cases like the Google Union, an organization which almost seems to believe that by invoking the magic words "union" their conditions will suddenly improve without any further actions required. A union is a means to an end (better enabling collective workplace action) and should never be viewed as a sufficient end to itself.

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