What was the status of labor unions under regimes historicly regarded as fascist?
From Mein Kampf:
"I think that I have already answered the first question adequately. In the present state of affairs I am convinced that we cannot possibly dispense with the trades unions. On the contrary, they are among the most important institutions in the economic life of the nation. Not only are they important in the sphere of social policy but also, and even more so, in the national political sphere. For when the great masses of a nation see their vital needs satisfied through a just trade unionist movement the stamina of the whole nation in its struggle for existence will be enormously reinforced thereby.
"Before everything else, the trades unions are necessary as building stones for the future economic parliament, which will be made up of chambers representing the various professions and occupations."
There is some confusion brought on by apologists, but once Hitler took power, he replaced the Weimar Unions with "the German Labor Front (Deutsche Arbeitsfront, DAF), which was comprised of 2 primary entities, the National Socialist Factory Organization and the National Socialist Trade and Industry Organization."
Anyway, the bottom line is that once "the people" allowed the federal government to seize so much unauthorized power, especially economic power they've squeezed out of the interstate commerce clause (which should just be, no trade barriers between the states), then politicians giving their cronies and backers (unions, large corporations, universities, etc... pretty much anyone else with power) payoffs was just a matter of public choice incrementalism.