If everyone thinks they're the magical special worker who can command the top tier of their sector's pay scale, then no, unions don't work. However, that's stat

If everyone thinks they're the magical special worker who can command the top tier of their sector's pay scale, then no, unions don't work. However, that's statistically impossible. Most people are, by their nature, average. You might lower your ceiling in the union, but you also might raise your floor. This is of course assuming that a union is even involved in wage negotiations at all. It's also possible that you just have a trade organization that can exert pressure on the organization in other ways, and focus more on "quality of life" issues that most tech people are actually concerned about.