re: Who here is in a union? Do you feel it helps or hurts?

Member of a union. Ours is relatively benign, but they do negotiate our contracts with the company. We get overall better pay, benefits, and working conditions than non-union in the same field (telecom). There are some abuses for sure, but they help keep us making decent money and receiving benefits when both of those things are becoming more and more rare in our industry.

FWIW, I was solidly anti-union before I started this job. But, I’ve come around on them. Still opposed to public sector unions, but if a group of private employees wants to band together and get better working conditions, it’s not really a huge deal.