Michael Hiltzik: Did the pandemic finally give working Americans power over their employers? Not really

Labor advocates have been feeling their oats lately, what with a surge of successful union organizing drives at Starbucks stores, the hint of union interest at Amazon warehouses, higher minimum wage standards in cities and states across the country, and a nudge up of average wages across the board.

These trends have inspired some to proclaim the advent of a new era of worker power.

"The labor market is experiencing a Great Upgrade," the progressive Roosevelt Institute declared in February.

"We're in a moment where, politically, workers are ascendant," David Madland of the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank, told the investment publication Barron's in May. (The article's headline read: "How Workers Gained an Edge — and Why They Won't Lose It Soon.")

Unfortunately, this sort of confidence can be a drug that invites dangerous overdoses. That's the view of economist Teresa