Convince me.

[Biggs]

Something good a union did for me: renegotiated the health insurance plan to include optical care. I perform my work at a higher level (and the local roads are much safer for everyone) when I can mitigate my deteriorating vision with otherwise-unaffordable new lenses every 2 years.

Something bad a union did for me: ensured I worked with a handful of colleagues and superiors (although the majority were excellent) that would have been correctly replaced without union 'safeguards' in place.

At this point in my relatively short life, the net of my (again, thus far brief) experience with unions has been positive. But I agree with the general belief that unions are political entities far more than they are labor entities.