Sorta right, but unions are what destroying jobs. We had a union here at my work and we got rid of it because the union bosses did not do what they suppose to do by allowing firing workers who are not up to task and drawing out suspensions and what not. When you have surprise inspections from the government in the middle of the night and you have union workers sleeping or high on drugs or drunk and you can't fire them and it cost the company contracts, what is our owner suppose to do when his hands are tied all the time trying to get rid of them? The managers tell me before I got here that dealing with union workers were a nightmare. My owner works everyday and I talk to him everyday, I know our finances and how much we make, the amount of employees and he had to fire all of them, but gave most of them a chance to come back to work provided they gave up the union. Almost all of them came back and they got a surprise, a two dollar hike in pay, same benefits. He explain to me that it cost more money fighting the union than paying these guys extra who wanted to come back. Now granted, all of them were not asked back, the ones who they want to get rid of weren't allow back. The union tried to picket the place, but since we are on five year contracts with state and most business, not much they can do and gave up after some were arrested for jaywalking, trespassing and disruption of traffic.
Unions were needed when OSHA wasn't around and regulations were nonexistent, today the businesses back then couldn't do that today with the regulations. Most of our manufacturing jobs were in unions and since they all are being sent overseas or outsource, the union is losing a lot of money in dues. They should have thought about that before their demands got way out of hand. GED peeps were making more than 8 year grads in some cases.
The carpenters/plumbers/electricians now are getting out of unions, like my neighbor, because companies see what a union base contractor is charging versus an individual non-union and they go with non-union. He said that unions are always there at the site with signs protesting him and his other buddies. He said being in the union, jobs are harder to come by and then there is tenure and other things that makes it an iffy situation. As an independent he can pick and choose what he wants to do and makes a lot of money doing it that way without having to pay dues/fees and other crap he said.
When I got my addition put on my house, I went to recommended union back company and they wanted to charge me $121k, and others varied between $100k and $130k. I then asked my neighbors and they say go to these independent companies non union, $55k. I asked them why union backed are so much higher. He explained to me that you pay for all their crew, it could be 15 to 20 people, while you will be dealing with 5 people with my crew. I get it when he explained to me and that is how unions operated, more people get paid, more dues come in so they spread it out. The job will be done but at a higher price.
Unions can be great when needed, but they are too greedy and do not know how to get rid of lazy people.