I would say that from one perspective if the companies had the ability to hire part time nonunion employees the odds of hiring new people would increase greatly. Most companies would prefer to stay out of that situation as there is ample education out there that it is a poor long term solution. If they were able to decrease labor costs 10% they could hire 10% more workers and gain efficencies for the same amount of money without laying anyone off and taking a large part of their local population off of unemployment releasing major stresses on local government. I would also ask... What kind of life would your friend have if his union didn't bend to the increasing pressures of the current financial market and General Mills had to make the financial decision to relocate to Mexico and increase profits 30%