All point to a fragile rather than a robust Union – whose immediate political future must be in doubt.
For a century it formed a stud in the Steel Necklace, a stretch of Pennsylvania and Ohio defined by belching steel mills and robust union wages.
I can speak from personal experience when I say that having the collective confidence of a robust union presence can make an enormous difference when individual journalists want to speak out on matters of journalistic ethics.
The White House negotiated changes to the tax with leaders of organized labor, who worried that it would hit too many middle-class workers who have robust union-sponsored benefits plans.
Justices who appeared sympathetic to same-sex marriage indicated that there was no principled way to issue a ruling that could apply only in California or only in the nine states that have robust civil union or domestic partnership laws but withhold the word "marriage".
But it too has benefited from a robust trade union movement.
Likewise, a more robust European Union (EU) emissions trading system would have a corrective effect on the distorted exchange prices.
The challenge is that, for the moment, coal offers a relatively cheap and easy solution, there is plenty of it and thousands of jobs are involved so the mining enjoys robust support from unions and local politicians.
In Alabama, it was African-American women who turned out to defeat Roy Moore, Lamb said; in Western Pennsylvania, Lamb was counting on robust support from the unions.
