Constant hammering by politicians, beginning with Ronald Reagan, have persuaded a lot of people to accept the idea that unions are awful,

I believe that, these days, unions are pretty awful - especially the public sector ones. Look at the NEA where members are forced to contribute to political causes in which they do not believe (not all teachers are liberals, although it may seem like they are). Even worse, because of the unions, and tenure, unqualified and unethical teachers cannot be fired.

but CEO's who make hundreds of millions while workers make minimum wage are OK.

So, you think that the janitor should make as much as the CEO? Business owners deserve to make the money that they do because they are the ones that took the risk. If a business fails, it is the business owner that loses everything he or she invested in it. The workers only lose their jobs.

It not just the repubs. Clinton was behind NAFTA - one of the most anti-worker treaties in the country's history.

I don't think that it's a coincidence that the middle class in the US began to shrink at the same time that that change in perception of unions began to take hold.

Actually, the middle class shrank in the final decades of the 20th century for a welcome reason: More Americans moved up into what might be considered the upper middle class or the affluent. Since 2000, the middle class has been shrinking for a decidedly more alarming reason: Incomes have fallen. I believe that the increase in big government in the 21st century is partially responsible for this.

My point was that the kind of corruption that we are seeing in states like New Jersey and New York at all levels of government has yet to get the kind of scrutiny that unions got and we need to address that.

I agree that corruption in the government needs to have more scrutiny.

Can you imagine what Fox would say if the Teamsters had 240 people making over $200K/year?

Do you even ever watch Fox News? Fox news had plenty to say about corruption in the IRS and NSA (among other government agencies). Where was the mainstream media?

Well the Port Authority of NY/NJ does and the tolls on the bridges are rising by leaps and bounds.

So why don't the residents of those states make some noise and do something about it? If you took the story to Fox News, I bet they would report on it. But I doubt that the mainstream media would....