Check out several website that may provide some info. Also, the book recommendations you have gotten are spot on. The airline industry is unlike many others. Unions are an important part of the job, whether you like ALPA or Teamsters or anything else it doesn’t matter as long as you educate yourself about why they exist.

From a Military perspective I look at Unions as the Company CO (in your case Squadron CO) that took care of his men/women. He wasn’t always a favorite but when you needed someone at bat for your unit it was good to have him.

www.alpa.org
www.aflcio.org