[jaguar]

There are good unions and there are bad unions, like any organisation they've often become entities that look after themselves before their members. I have friends in AU whose parents have been though hell and back because of small numbers of powerful figures in the unions (which are practically mandatory) using them to get their way. However we live in a capitalist state, companies have an obligation to shareholders to pump every last bit out of you they can for as little as is possible before dumping your empty husk so banding together isn't such a bad idea really. Pity they've been kneecapped totally in the US so you're probably better of without. R&D academia isn't quite assembly line either.