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I took a couple labor management courses in college. One of the things the professor said has always stuck with me:

"Management gets the union it asks for."

Almost every union in the US and the UK was formed in the face of withering hostility from management. It's not surprising that the union would be antagonistic in response.

EDIT: typo

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I suppose the UK industrialised early. It industrialised first, with workers often in appalling conditions, and unions formed in response to awful conditions and in opposition to the businesses trying to keep them down. And this was absolutely necessary, but it set the culture for a long time.

Other countries didn't necessarily have that history, and other factors - like the need to rebuild the country after a devastating war with everybody starting from nothing - might have fostered cooperation in ways not possible in the UK.

The teachers and firefighters formed unions in the face of withering hostility from management? About half of US union members are local, state, or federal government employees.

They absolutely did. Look up the origins of the Chicago Teachers' Union or the fire fighter's union in Pittsburgh.

Even today, government employee unions face serious challenges to their existence. If Scott Walker doesn't count as management, who does?

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