One busted checkride, huh? Let me tell you a little story.
Guy goes in for a 135 6 month ride. Everything is going well, the next (and last) approach is a LOC to circling mins, then circle for landing in the opposite direction. He flys the approach just fine, circles, and begins his decent for landing abeam the numbers on the runway for landing. OOPS! According to the CP, he just busted the ride (the CP was an EAL Scab, by the way). But wait, says the pilot. I can decend with the runway in sight and in a normal position to make a landing. And C310's don't come down that fast. Guy gets fired, to make a long story short. CP badmouths him to pospective employers, saying he can't fly worth a dang.
Why a union? To help prevent things like this. Or the person who pull a bad EKG on a medical, because the machine malfunctioned.
Do unions get gredy sometimes? You bet! Do they do a disservice? Sometimes. But look at history. Unions built this country. And did it while helping to provide practical work rules and livable salaries.
You site JetBlue and SkyWest. Let me tell you something. If JetBlue begins to abuse their employees, they will have a union on the property FAST. SkyWest? Look at their history. Everytime they begin to rumble about bringing a union on the property, they (management) just matches what the nearest contract offers. But without any union shops out there, they would pay as little as they could, and abuse their employees as much as some little non-union 135 operator. Think about that with all of your 'Airline Experience' before you condemn what you obviously do not understand.
Peace
Rekks
PS. The guy in the story above does exist, I know him well. And the bust was his only one in nearly 20 years i this business.