-1935 President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the National Labor Relations Act, which allowed labor to organize for the purpose of collective bargaining.
-1946 The bikini made its debut during an outdoor fashion show at the Molitor Pool in Paris. (trivia - this first French bikini was designed by a man, an automotive engineer not a fashion designer, named Louis Reard; this was what it looked like - DG)
-1948 Britain's National Health Service Act went into effect, providing government-financed medical and dental care.
(Some of us even think these were changes for the better!)
I would be the first to admit that labor unions were necessary at the time. I also think they have outlived their usefulness and in some areas are doing serious harm. Mainly public employee unions. There should not be any way for a union to prevent a bad cop or bad teacher from being fired. Also autoworkers are negotiating mainly with management of a company who get bonuses if the company makes a profit so there is incentive on both sides to actually negotiate. Public employee unions negotiate with people who will make the same money regardless how the negotiations go but are very interested in the public seeing the police on the street so they give in easily and give up more than they need to. This ends up with what is happening in California and Illinois where government pensions make up more than 20% of the states budget and heading fast toward 50%.
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