Unions help the well-connected get better paying jobs, at the expense of less well-connected people who would be willing to do the job for less, but still at a

Unions help the well-connected get better paying jobs, at the expense of less well-connected people who would be willing to do the job for less, but still at a rate that makes sense for them. So the question is not “do unions help union members?” (they almost certainly do), it’s “do unions help workers like me?” - maybe the average worker is not confident that they can move to their next job if the industry is unionized?