FYI, just as a single data point, based on my time in the UAW, 1 in 100 "old" timers did any work, the rest went under the tooling and hid all shift long, only coming out for piss breaks. Most of the "new" people were average workers, and a few held their own, but the overall percentage of these were low. This was my first job immediately following "working" in the Marine Corps in the airwing, which is 12-16hr days, 6-7 days/week. So popping into the environment of the union, I honestly felt like I was on vacation... What! You mean I get to go home after ONLY 8hrs???
I quickly was made Team Leader and made people work, which of course meant I got a bad reputation as well, all of the shit and people not wanting to work took it's toll on me and I left after 2 years.
Are there some good people in the UAW? Absolutely. Are there a lot of bad people in the UAW? Like the sun rising in the morning... But the UAW is so strong you can not get rid of the "super-seniority" members. IMO, there was a time for unions, however we now have labor-laws and lawyers.... Food for thought.
Being from the Windsor area I know many union people
It was a gravy train in the 80 s & 90 s at the big 3
Drinking in the parking lot at lunch
Doing your 8 hour job in 2 hours & sleeping in your car or worse out at a bar while your buddy punched your card
Hard work was a no no because you made others look bad
The longer you were employed the less you did
I could go on & on about the stories I heard
I passed on 15 an hour in the early 80 s for 5 an hour due to shift work
All my buddies are retired now
They all did very well
Things have tightened up over the years & things are not like they use to be
The big 3 UAW is shrinking & is not as powerful as it once was
Its going to shrink more with the EV market
Plus people are not as faithful as they once were to the big 3
People have no issue buying Asian cars today
Most Asian car companies are not unionized either
46 percent pay increase won t happen unless its over 8 to 10 years