This really bums me out. The union has made a lot of mistakes it’s true. As individuals we can be a lot nastier to each other than is warranted, and we only divide ourselves further. For what it’s worth, all the dumb stuff you see, be it gossip circles, veiled threats, leaking of private information in training or anything is NOT your union in action. Nobody who has been on any kind of team thinks being crappy to each other improves performance over the long run. I can think of a good many times I’ve seen this type of thing really harm an effort. Mistakes have been made.
The good news is that we are fixing this. Please don’t let loud jerks turn you off your union. We’re only going to be strong if we stick together. Sometimes we lose sight of that. If someone doesn’t wanna hear what you have to say, talk to someone else. We exist for you, not the other way around.