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

Union member for over 15 years now. Fully vested pension, PPO family insurance I've literally never had a paycheck deduction for, $500 deductible. Negotiated salary increases (on top of COLA) I wanna say have been 12% in the past six years. Not bad.

Never had to use their legal representation because I'm not an idiot

On the whole, it's been a pretty positive experience I'd say. I've never seen the union wage war for shite employees (contrary to popular opinion); the only time they really went to the mat involved obvious nepotism.