Is that
a) Better? b) The other thing?
(Yes, the current situation sucks and those unions certainly don't help it any. This is not an argument for the status quo.)
Thing is, I hear lots of stories about how American unions devastate their own industries. Why is that? Dutch unions make sure their members (including the young ones) are fairly compensated, but they are invested in the long term health of the industry, because that is also the long term livelihood of their members. Generally there are regular talks where employers, unions and government discuss this on an equal footing and reach an agreement that everybody can live with.
So why don't US unions work like that?
It reflects a juvenile, ego-centric view of the world that often gets rewarded.
Having seen what some new pilots make and the shit routes they get all this talk about how negotiations somehow favor them over senior pilots is odd, those negotiations are refinements of existing contracts which have always benefited those with the most years. They encourage staying at your airline because when you don't you fall in rank and pay, the same when you get bought out. Hence when mergers occur the different unions have to agree to their members don't lose out.
In a highly specialized and professional trade as pilots are I am still trying to see why a union is necessary.
It's not across the board because of the top union earners that are privileged with triple salary for simply being in a place longer than the others. Their salaries will get slashed. That's always going to happen when you convert from a system that rewards people based on time served rather than merit.
This needs some clarification.
Firing people for merely belonging to a union is illegal, and ought to remain so.
However, firing people for refusing to work (ie, striking) is not illegal.