My grandfather worked a union job at a paper mill for more than 40 years. He loved it and the union did well for him and everyone else working there.
He retired shortly after it was bought by a new owner. The union’s pull has eroded dramatically since he was there. Before the buy out you started at 15 an hour. Once you got trained on your next job you got bumped to 20. After that, 2 dollar per hour raises with each new hourly position earned until you went salary.
Now they start at 12 an hour. And get 50 cent raises.