If you are getting a vote on the board of a company you are management, not labor so yes you're right unions are not great for you. They make your life harder b

If you are getting a vote on the board of a company you are management, not labor so yes you're right unions are not great for you. They make your life harder because now instead of having complete and total control over your workers, they have negotiating power. Management cannot be part of a union. They don't need unions; they already have all the power. Unions were created out of a moral necessity to push back against them because unchecked the way management behaves (in the general/worst case, consider e.g. The Jungle) is horrifying. You need to be clear what kind of person the hypothetical 'you' we are discussing is. The critical point here is that of course, in democracies decisions are not made that always align with your views. This does not mean democracy is bad considering the other options available, it just means that democracy is imperfect. If something is being considered as an option, I would prefer to have a vote over not having one. When you are not in the union you have no vote. When you are in the union you have one. If you don't want one and are content to provide complete and blind obedience towards every directive given by management, are comfortable with a possible firing without cause or dangerous working conditions with no compensation or reduction in salary/benefits or forced unpaid overtime, and want to abandon your fellow workers who need the cooperation of the full workforce in order to do collective bargaining which almost always happens partially on your behalf whether you want it or not (enjoy salary bumps? benefits? weekends? vacation days? not being fired for being sick? these are things that exist only because of unions)... well that's certainly your choice as well. Just as in a democracy you can choose not to vote, you just don't get to complain about the outcome which you've chosen to have no say in.