As bad as things are or can be, they'd be worse without a union. Research the creation of unions in the country(before the airlines) and you'll see why they are needed. A necessary evil, some like to say. It's easy to say "just quit". But as you get older and gain more life responsibility/liability(mortgage, wife, kids, etc), you essentially trap yourself at least for a short while because the bill collectors don't care that you were screwed by airline xyz. They want their payment on time. Most people can't "just quit". Companies know this and some try and use it as leverage.