I don't think "evil" is a fair characterization. Trade & craft unions have been around for centuries. Unions in the US rose in the early part of the century as a counterbalance to the unbridled power of corporations as they rode roughshod over labor in pay and working conditions.

Only the power of a collective bargaining concept provided a modicum of a balance of power. There is a plethora of information on the history & why. If you look at how corporations were treating thier workers in the 1920's I would dare you to say a union was evil.

The taft hartley act reduced the power of unions, and their roles and memberships have diminshed significantly since then. Corporations and business are bit more discreet in how treat their employees now, federal & state laws provide some basic worker safety protection (e.g. ERISA- OSHA), but if you look at corporate profits, corporate balance sheets (lots of cash), compared to the average workers salary growth and compensation especially on the basis of worker productivity, the worker has had stagnant wages, and reduced benefits, all the while his productivity (benefiting the business) has gone up. i.e. he has not shared the benefits of his increased productivity. The attitude of many employers is don't like it-leave.

last year CAT had record profits, record low debt, high earnings, and order backlogs, but refused to give their workers a raise, and demanded that some take a 50% cut (CEO took 60% raise tho). Productivity was at an all time high as the compay streamlined increasing the workload with fewer workers. The guys had no recourse. Could a larger more effective union collectively bargained for a share of the profit that they helped create?? CAT must have thought so, because they outsourced much of their work and move plants to "right to work states", where they could have the don't like it- leave attitude.

In these right to work states, wages, rates of employer sponsored health plans, and pensions are all lower than the non right to work states. Unions & collective bargaining have some effect on garnering some of these benefits. Is this evil?

A unions purpose of collectivley bargaining to attempt to be fairly compensated for their efforts is hardly evil. If you look at many of the benefits that people take fro granted- medical, sick leave, 40 hour work week, paid vacation, pensions, many came from the efforts of early unions. Is that "evil"?

Unions are no more or less evil than unbridled capitalist that conduct unethical practices for their own aggrandizement at the expense of shareholders and/or employees.