Your 1.5 shares mixed into your target date retirement fund really doesn't change the fact that you are labor and they want to squeeze you as much as possible. Your life is much more dramatically impacted by the work conditions and pay that are fought for by the union than by believing the meager shares you hold as a result of mutual fund make you an owner of the company. You are labor plain and simple and believe me when management knows that.

"Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires"

Think of union/company balance as a pendulum. Unions were created when business owners had all the power. Everything tilted to them and labor was exploited. When unions were created the power started to shift. What we want is for the pendulum to be balanced. Take away one of the forces and the power shifts completely. There will be periods of time where the power shifts too much in one direction, but just imagine what would happen when one of those forces disappear.