>>I have yet to see a union that would support management firing an underperforming employee, but have seen many that would protect underperformers. What union

>>I have yet to see a union that would support management firing an underperforming employee, but have seen many that would protect underperformers. What unions almost always do is require management to follow the procedures in place in the negotiated contract. A well negotiated contract lays out what underperforming is, what qualifies as appropriate notice, etc. People find it hard to say "your performance is not great in these ways, you need to improve in these ways" and then follow up over weeks or months. That's often what union negotiated contracts require. Employers, obviously, would prefer to be able to say on a Friday "hey you're fired go home" and pay no severance.