The thing is, the union won't end up negotiating a baseline rate of $400k for everybody. It'll be a lot closer to what all those salary surveys come back with

The thing is, the union won't end up negotiating a baseline rate of $400k for everybody. It'll be a lot closer to what all those salary surveys come back with as their "market average" rate. So, $70k. You, on the other hand, absolutely can negotiate directly with Apple to receive a $400k total comp package. They hire thousands of engineers a year in that range.