Assuming we’re still talking about a union having an exclusive deal with a company to provide labor...
>How is it a bad idea for the union members?
The paradox of this question is that you have to be a union member to get the job. If you have to be a member to work, then you must take what the union will give you and you must pay the union its dues. How is the union incentivized to keep dues down if you have to pay them? How is it incentivized to keep pay up, if you have to pay them?
>Cause the alternative is no union at all.
I’m not sure I follow. You’re saying that unions provide so little value to members that they wouldn’t voluntarily join the union given the option? I would have to agree with you.
>And how, exactly, does the employer being able to choose if they want a union not lead to abuse?
I’m just not sure what you mean here. Can people be abused if they don’t have unions? Can people be abused if they do have unions. Yes and yes.
Again, I get that voluntarily unions can have value, but being forced into a union has little value since there is NO motivation for a union to provide any value when your membership is mandatory.
Imagine if you had to pay Netflix a monthly due just because you had a TV. How hard do you think would Netflix work to get you the best programming it could deliver?
Answer: Not very hard. Sure maybe this alternative world Netflix started with good intentions...if every person who had a TV was forced to pay them money, Netflix could do great things...but then, after a while, the great things stop coming and people keep paying. There is no inducement for performance so performance will decline. These are immutable realities.
How is it a bad idea for the union members? Cause the alternative is no union at all.
And how, exactly, does the employer being able to choose if they want a union not lead to abuse?
"Low and behold, there are lots of examples of abuse by union leaders which a quick google search will show."
For every instance of union abuse, you can find tenfold the number of examples of company abuse.