>>1396327
The left didn't. The center-right and far-right liberals demonized unions because they're a problem for business and, in that respect, government. Unions lost power because the government and capitalists with the blessing of government actively sabotaged them and murdered their leaders, forcing them to fold or to recapitulate to reformist models.

Over time, the leadership of the unions sold out and got in bed with the capitalists they were supposed to be struggling against. This led to unions becoming impotent, as important decisions usually get made by the leadership, and when the leadership has that conflict of interest, it led to strikes not getting approved, bargaining for better wages and conditions stagnated, etc. Then after decades of that, people started realizing "hey, what the fuck is this union shit, where I pay dues but I get nothing out of it?" and that's how both the left and right, and the working class, started attacking unions, thus weaking the worker's movement, conditions became worse, wages stagnated, and it's all basically a clusterfuck today because people are wary of unions. It's a bunch of horseshit.

>>1396546
Agree with this, and add that big American unionized industries like automotive had issues competing with foreign manufacturing imports from places like Japan and Germany. The Republicans had always been fairly antagonistic towards unions, but they ramped it up during the 1970s and 1980s. It was easy for the Republicans to say, "look, we are getting killed by foreign competitors and our lazy unions are holding us back!"

Democrats failed to mount a defense of unions in the face of Republican attack, beginning their shift to issues like abortion, civil rights for minorities, the environment (and they're still really weak here and only seem to care about global warming), and certain civil liberties. The two parties were basically indistinguishable during the Carter-Reagan-Bush years, the Republicans were just more bellicose when it came to foreign policy and hostility towards labor. The Democrats triangulated themselves as Republican-lite during the Clinton years, supporating free trade agreements that were just as appealing to the Republicans.

Now, the best defense the Democrats can mount for labor is measures like minimum wage laws and limited maternity leave, and even that is half-hearted. The Democrats consult big business and the wealthy about as much as the Republicans, and rely on them to bankroll their social causes, like gun control, as much as the Republicans.

>>1396640
Also, another prong of the Republican attack on unions was appeal to consumer interests. Stuff could be made more cheaply in foreign countries which were just beginning to industrialize, and it was easy to appeal to consumers by saying, "We can't make this stuff cheaply here because of the unions! Don't you want cheaper prices for goods? You can't get 'Made in America' if we have unions." The Democrats offered little resistance. Apathetic greed and self-interest on the part of consumers played a large part in allowing both parties to dismantle the unions.

Manufacturing jobs in the US and Europe moved to the developing world were it was easier to deal with.

>>1396538
In France at least, the left did. Unions were accused of bureaucracy and collaboration with the capitalists. Also of stalinism sometimes.

That was justified. Often unions favored their power over the interests of the workers. In 68, the CGT which was one of the biggest national union, as well as the communist party to which it was closely tied, were opposed at first to the students and the budding movement among the workers. They accused them of "leftism" which at the time was an insult for marxists-leninists.
Then they jumped on the train, along with the other important unions, when the people went on strike anyway, and helped De Gaulle to stop it by negotiating the Grenelle agreements (general 10% wage raise, 35% raise to the minimum wage, one more week of paid vacation, and the ability for "representative" unions to have instituted delegates in the companies and financial support if there's enough workers). That didn't satisfy the workers who maintained the strikes, but that was the first step in the defeat of June.

To this day, unions are still seen with suspicion from the left.

>>1396327
Because the capitalists realized they wouldn't win a fight in the U.S. against organized workers.

So they simply moved the sweatshop labor overseas to places like China where workers aren't well organized and the state is more brutal on suppressing them.

The New Left and the Culture Wars came on the scene and shifted the political focus from the working class to social issues and minorities.

>>1396327
In short, they protected their own interests as businessmen rather than the workers'. They ended up being more of a hindrance than a help to the labour forces, leading regular people to simply not give a shit.

>>1396640
So basically the left wing party became less left where it matter but amped up the superficial shit they harp on and on about today to hide it?
How sad. I remember when I was into the punk rock scene and I was always the "yo what ever happened to the class war" guy while everyone else around was concerned with dumb divisive feel good horse shit