In theory, unionization allows powerless individual workers to band together and secure equitable employment from large employers that directly benefit from worker abuse.

In practice, unionization allows powerless individual workers to band together and be abused by large unions that directly benefit from member abuse.

Obviously the truth is in the middle somewhere, and is an outcome of differing rules and treatment. Not all unions are created equal, not all union agreements are created equal. but look:

My union hits me for about $250 a quarter for membership. It cost me $2500 to buy in. If I get my 400 hours every six months I keep my benefits. After 20,000 hours I get to retire on about $1200 a month pension. All this is through the Master Agreement so every trade in Hollywood has that same setup.

The camera union hits their members for about $800 a month for membership It costs them about $8k to buy in. All else is equal.

I have friends that used to be in the artists' guild. Then the art directors' guild ate them and now their membership dues are triple and nobody is protecting their interests because fucking storyboardists and set decorators have fuckall to do with each other.

I have friends that check bags. They can join the union and pay $200 a month (of a grocery bagger's salary) in order to be a member of the union. The pay is the same. Except if you don't join the union you never get promoted.

I have friends that teach classes. They can join the teacher's union and pay about $350 a month (of a teacher's salary) in order to be a member of the union. The pay is the same. Except if you don't join the union you will never get the AP classes, you will be the last substitute called and your review will never go well.

And look - my bennies are off the chain. COBRA on them is something like $1800/mo and I pay $400/yr for my family of 3. If I keep working at the rate I'm working for another 18 years, I'll have a legit pension which is kind of like having a unicorn.

BUT

My bennies are off the chain because unlike SAG or the Directors Guild of the Producer's guild, I get no residuals from anything I do. ALL that money goes to my union. ALL OF IT. The union that told me they couldn't get my back wages because "the production company is too mean." The union that asked me "is Big Brother shot on film or video." The union that told me "we're coming to help" but didn't get a signed contract until 3 months after the production wrapped. The union whose secretary makes the same rate I do, day in, day out, sunrise, sunset, so that she can have an unpaid college student "intern" do all her typing. The union that told me I couldn't join because they hadn't called me despite the fact that I was able to throw 3,000 hours of work in their face.

Again. My grandfather was a regional president of the AFL. But you know what? That pretty much meant that he made a shit-ton of money without having to do any work.

In theory, unions are great. And there are aspects of union membership that are great. But the fundamental benefits of unions are largely experienced by union leadership, not union membership, because they're predatory organizations that require you to swear a blood oath to uphold your brothers under penalty of death'n'shit so that they can get into pissing matches with other unions.

I like having medical insurance. I would pay a lot more without my union work. But the International was perfectly happy signing off on my rape-me-in-the-ass rate so long as they got the opportunity to take money from me for really shitty insurance because not all unions are created equal.

And not everybody benefits from them.

And yes. I've been aware of Dead Set since it came out, but never got around to watching it. We're all of a mind that it's pretty fun, and we don't hate it nearly as much as we hate Unreal.