G4, you had the luxury of the favored employee status, and from your perspective, I can see your point regarding the necessity or not of unions. This is not meant as a hit on you, but rather a simple insight from a different perspective.
When I started at EJA, SIC pay was 27k, and upgrade in 6 months brought me to a whopping 37k. At the time we were told EJI starting salary was 68-72k, and no one would disclose Capt pay. We were told it was negotiated individually, all within a certain range. As a 5 year PIC I was barely making 75k on the flex schedule.
Clearly a significant difference, and it continues today, in spite of the integration, due to the continued favored status right up till the integration with mass upgrades. That was our fault as a group for not considering that possibility and negotiating a better deal for all.
There are a lot of SICs senior to PICs in the big Gs, and over time the salary difference is in the hundreds of thousands. Every single pilot from the "A" side will have far lower earnings since date of hire and will never see parity. Only new hires post integration will see true parity. That's fine, as future agreements would have to show favored status to one group, the former "A" side, which the union will not promote. That's one big advantage of unions today-eliminating favoritism. Some say it also offers protections for those that should be terminated, but how is that different from a non-union shop where favorites of managers remain and should be teminated?
There are many other advantages you will learn of and come to appreciate. The recent loss of medical insurance provides a base 1000/month till age 65 compliments of the union, with more available at a reasonable cost to us. Work rules that take the threat of termination away when issues such as mx and fatigue crop up. Protections from loss of benefits, recall rights, and lots more.
I believe this union is unique as well. All of us realize the importance of providing the best product we can to our owners, and will not attempt to cripple the company as other unions have done. In protecting the pilots, we also protect our owners and the Netjets name. Our goals are the same as management's, although we seem more interested in achieving them than they are of late.
PS: Don't worry about the few on the other board. Discussions like this may result in some verbal harrassment from a very small minority, but you'll find the majority will back you up.