The civil service is very socialistic in outlook and inherent nature. I've said many times before that government employees should not be allowed unions, or at least not the kind with any self-help authority. Civil service is about *service*, not self-help... if the gov doesn't pay enough, market forces will fix that.

In private sector everybody is in it to make money, and unions came about as an obvious, necessary foil to the abuses of the lopsided power balance between workers and management. Unions are largely OBE in the modern white-collar world, since workers have access to information and mobility necessary to freely follow market forces. They are still relevant in professions (mostly blue, a few white collar) which are seniority based, since we have no mobility once locked into a seniority system.