Thank you for sharing this Cinepro. It was an interesting read.
Anecdotal diarrhea to follow:
It reminded me of something my father had said during one of their brief strikes during contract negotiations (my dad was a locomotive engineer for UPRR). He said that he felt bad for anyone hired after the negotiations were done. Each contract usually protected the existing people at the extreme cost of the next generation. The gradual result being that each time, the contract was renegotiated, the existing people were fighting for scraps left for them by the previous people at the expense of the people yet to come.
Essentially, the union is/was on a path of essentially becoming something that ultimately only helped the union representatives, and not the union members.
When the teamsters merged with the Locomotive brotherhood, and raided the coffers, my dad had some choice things to say about the Las Vegas mob being alive and well under the guise of a "union."
Interesting to see that human nature tends to make great things into turds, regardless of where they are.