Well, I'm not a union guy. I think they did good things in the past but now they seem to just raise our costs. When my wife and I married 10 years ago, she got hired on a union brick crew building a new hospital on the base I was stationed on. She was used to working her dad's brick crew and kept him supplied with mortar, bricks, sand and what ever else it took to finish the job and to lay up to 1,000 bricks a day. They union guys could only lay 400 a day and then they had to go home. She was pretty ticked because she was working hourly cleanup and they would finish before noon and then she'd only get paid for four or five hours a day. Ticked me off too since anytime we went home on leave, I worked for her dad too and I knew how hard he worked for his money. These other union dudes were just there for the sham job.
Thankfully, in my profession, unions are outlawed. I've got 21 years in the USAF and can stay for 26 unless I get promoted again. Then I could stay for 28. I already get a retirement if I decide to drop my papers but with the economy right now, I think I'll stay in for another 2-3 just to see how it goes. If I get promoted or get a really good assignement, I may choose to stay longer than that, who knows. At least I know my bills will be paid forever.
ngh