Funny you mention that quote. I'm half way through Jefferson Cowie's bestseller about the demise of the American working class starting in the 1970s [http://fave.co/2j8L5pI] and the first part of the book recounts the struggle of young west virginian coal miners against the entrenched, oppressive, borderline-criminal leadership of their union. At some point in time certain unions started to operate as political machines and the incentives of members and leaders did seem to substantially diverge. It's interesting to think about how organized labor has evolved across different sectors (physical labor, knowledge workers like teachers, Government workers, law/medicine) through this perspective of divergent incentives.