Well, I'm not a union member, never have been and never will be. I have worked where unions were present and made the decision not to join. I've seen union members holler and berate women as they passed thru the lines, but not once was I ever as much as given a bad look, and once I started meeting the women to walk them in, neither were they again. Guess the cowards wouldn't take a chance with someone that would stand up to them.
Anyways, that said, I think the company did the right thing here. You wanna threaten strike, fine, stay home. To top it off when they decide to start production, they should rehire and leave the unions on the street. Anymore unions are out only for the union employees and increasing membership, the last contract at my company the union got the ability to solicit membership, at the cost of the wage increase for the members....what a joke...and the members just went along with it....a bigger joke. Companies are tired of paying the high price of unions anymore and honestly, I don't blame them. Wanna stop seeing our jobs move out of the country?? Get rid of the unions and all their requirements, we might find that the companies are a little nicer to the employees than they are with them in place. Why offer the world to someone that has a union standing up for them, if the union can't get it for them, to bad. I can't begin to imagine the time and money wasted in daily arbitration with the unions, and it's not just on an ALL member basis, every meeting where a union rep, the member and a company employee are required is just a waste of resources. I do know there are literally hundreds of these meetings everyday within my company, because Joe Shmoe thinks he was wronged when he was asked to do overtime.....and next week, he'll be complaining because he wasn't asked....petty BS.
When I moved from associate to management the union members were telling me how much I was gonna be screwed......well, I make more than twice their highest pay scale before my bonus, my 401K matching is higher, my benefits are better, and I have more flexibility than they will EVER see as an associate. The downside, I can be fired at will, not likely if I'm doing my job.....the union allows the unable members to retain employment, and does nothing for the member that excels.