Big Union Dying?

From the Las Vegas Sun: The United Auto Workers' membership and dues are down sharply from just six years ago. In another sign of weakness, the union suffered a stunning defeat this month when it tried to organize a Tennessee factory run by labor-friendly Volkswagen.
The rejection, by a close vote, was a major setback in the union's effort to expand in the South, where non-union, foreign companies such as VW, Nissan and Hyundai are rapidly growing.
But instead of relief, Detroit's three automakers — Ford, Chrysler and General Motors — are increasingly anxious about the 78-year old union's future.
For them, it's a "devil you know" situation. They worry that the 382,000-member UAW could be absorbed by a more hostile union. Such a merger could disrupt a decade of labor-management peace that has helped America's auto industry survive the financial crisis and emerge much stronger, according to a person with knowledge of executive discussions.
Another union might not be as willing to keep labor costs competitive with overseas automakers, says the person, who asked not to be identified because the discussions are confidential.
Despite talk of a union merger, Gary Chaison, a labor relations professor at Clark University in Worcester, Mass., says he doesn't see the UAW giving up its identity and history by combining with another organization.
"It's something that the employers always fear," he says.  http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2014/feb/22/detroit-automakers-worry-about-uaw-money-struggles/
The culinary union here in Las Vegas is a disaster.  They can't get very many contracts with the local casinos/hotels, even though they have tried, they have miserably and spent thousands of dollars trying to unionize the Station Casinos and have failed horrible and they have not won many hearts with their tactics. 
In Wisconsin, most of the public unions in the State have been neutered.
We may be seeing the decline of the big labor union as many people have decided that the big union is no longer an ally of the worker and that their dues are being used to give union leaders a lavish lifestyle.