Are you absolutely confident of that assertion? The AFL-CIO and unions in general have been severely and structurally limited in their impact on industrial policy since the 1980's at least. The impacts of globalisation, deskilling, outsourcing, and the deliberate policy of deindustrialising the american economy have more to do with it.
Your comment comes off as somewhat Dickensian, blaming a man being savaged by thugs for not feeding the starving orphan at the curb.