From what I can measure from most HN posting at least, I have had the a relatively uncommon experience in that I've both worked in a union (carpenter's union, d

From what I can measure from most HN posting at least, I have had the a relatively uncommon experience in that I've both worked in a union (carpenter's union, doing acoustic ceilings in SF) and worked as an engineer in SV. Of course my experience with both may not be exemplary of all. If I had stayed with the acoustic ceiling job, I would be doing the exact same thing I was doing then, for a bit more money. I may or may not have inherited more responsibility if people more senior to me retired, moved, changed jobs, or died. Really this would be capped though, as company ownership has nothing to do with the labor, so if you start your own company, what you are doing has little to do with you having been in the union (IDK how this applies to contracts for city jobs and all that). If I invented a magic spell that installed an acoustic ceiling for $1 in 2 seconds, I would have been actively encouraged to destroy it or hide it. The union ethos I was in was to promote mediocrity, not accidentally provide too much benefit to your employer or customer. I really don't know where this idea that unions would stop mass layoffs comes from that is brought up on HN all the time, but that's simply not true, union people find themselves out of work all the time, and it's very hard to do any job on the side if you are hoping you get picked out of the pool to work a job. Really worst of all, which is the prime driver that got me to leave, is I knew exactly what this path would look like for years to decades in the future - many people promote that as a positive (which makes sense as most people are scared of risk and change), but I found it soul crushing. I won't go into my engineering career other than it has completely changed my life for the better both financially and just in general leading a rewarding life, and operating without whatever safety net I had in the union (which was basically nothing anyway) is not even a passing thought I've ever had. Have any other posters either pro or anti union actually worked in a union? Curious about your experience and thoughts.