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Notes -
The actual history here is that unions didn't do squat about unsafe work environments. The workplace safety revolution was a top-down thing, imposed by management on a grudging and resentful labor force. Why did management do it? Because the shift to no-fault worker's compensation put a price on danger, and companies responded rationally by paying people to make the workplace safer. Often the safety rules were imposed by insurance companies in exchange for lower premiums.
This is a huge success story for well-designed incentives, the sort of thing that ought to be in every history textbook as a demonstration of how meaningful change actually happens, and yet people keep attributing it to unions for some reason.
In one memorable example, the Chicago Plumbers Union lobbied until the mid-1980s to continue requiring lead pipes until they were banned federally because only union plumbers could install lead lines. This probably had a negative safety impact for the plumbers themselves, has definitely impacted generations of Chicago residents in ways that less union-friendly jurisdictions avoided. But hey, job security!
New York City still requires lead shower pans, probably for similar reasons.
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