The unions were forced into existence when Gummint work became not a life-long profession but cronyism. At one time civil service was a low paying career, but sure and honorable. But, political machines came in and jobs were handed out to favorites. The unions brought stability and security, but the price was the usual union stuff, including wage contracts. Win some lose some. For Gummint managers, the union rep can be their best friend or their worst enemy. The situation was forced on the workers by the corruption of the system. We all end up paying, but you will find that the civil servants are a very capable group, very professional as a whole, and that kind of corruption is limited to only a few top-level positions these days. The average worker is fairly secure again.
And there were a lot of cozy buddy-buddy relationships between the union and management, no matter how bad the rhetoric got sometimes from the union side.
Yes, the union protected jobs, but they also made deals with management that certain jobs could be cut without the union protesting, if another set of jobs could be protected. We knew this was going on, but hey, we were underlings and basically helpless.
I appreciate your response.