If the goal is an employee-centric benefits system Unions don't seem to be an appropriate hack. Why not just break the privileged employer-employee tax relationship for things like healthcare and 401k? Frankly, I don't see a Union-member situation as much better than employer-employee.

As for the office-less office: after having done the telecommuting thing for a while, I just don't see it happening in a large way. Like the paperless office, it sounds obvious. But we'll still be talking about it being on the horizon twenty years from now.

Too many people in positions of influence are innately suspicious of work that doesn't manifest physically.