I'm in academia at a university. I'm part of a union and I hate it. Union meetings are mostly members nitpicking minor contract issues and complaining about bei

I'm in academia at a university. I'm part of a union and I hate it. Union meetings are mostly members nitpicking minor contract issues and complaining about being underpaid. The union's purported main goal is to protect free speech, but everybody knows it really only exists to (unsuccessfully) negotiate for better pay. I worked about a decade in industry and never felt like management was the enemy. We didn't expect management to coddle us, though. We knew we were there to do a job and if being there wasn't worth the benefit, we'd leave. Being in union, it feels like an artificial wall between management and union has been erected; that it's us versus them. Like the vice presidents are fat cats smoking cigars in their high rise offices while we, the proletariat, fight to get what's fair. Its as if union members think there's some reservoir of money we could get in salary if only we could break down the dam that management is using to hoard all the money. I'm in a right to work state and technically don't have to pay union dues. But, I pay my dues because if you don't, your name gets published publicly and there is a lot union members can legally do to make life difficult for you if you don't want to join the club.