I guess I meant more of a labor collective than what's normally considered a "union." I'm not interested in paying for pensions or protecting jobs of old farts

I guess I meant more of a labor collective than what's normally considered a "union." I'm not interested in paying for pensions or protecting jobs of old farts who feel threatened by young people. But I am interested in collectivizing with workers to get access to the sort of "perks" that most people rely on their company for, because that's going to increase my ability to freely choose who I do and don't work for. You mentioned you have your own health insurance and that's great. As an independent consultant, I do too, but I don't get the same kind of rates and coverage as I would as part of a company. It's just not offered to people like me. The "free market" response to that would be, "Well, then get a FTE job then, there's plenty out there." But what if I'd rather not depend on my employer for that? We can collectivize; we choose to let our employers do it for us. I don't understand the stark anti-union sentiment. You must realize that sometimes, your interests will diverge from your employers, and that the optimal result for both sides may not always be for you to give up or risk your employment being terminated over it, but it might actually be for the company to change their policies. That outcome is much harder to imagine without some sort of collective bargaining.