I don't know if unions are finished... but my wife works in electronic sales (cables, switches, etc). Big supplier to the auto companies. She told me the other day that a good part of the manufactering sector is moving back to the USA (mexico, china) since quality and safety are proving too hard to "export". A good example of this is the melatonin poisoning issue. Its problematic in many other areas too. I asked her why we were not hearing more about this in the news. She said it was because the economy was so depressed that the companies moving back are not doing a lot of business. Plus it is taking time to get these companies spun back up.
Fisher Price and Matel for example simply could not risk another
PR debacle involving lead paint. To them, the cost benefit is just not worth it. I dunno when we will start hearing and seeing more about this, but it should be soon.
http://www.industryweek.com/articles...ing_16778.aspx
Mike