Now, please read this entirely before saying something, because I understand this may go against a lot of what people feel here, but let me start by saying that I fully support unions and think they are an excellent standard to uphold. Here is my problem:
I work in commercial construction. Way back when unions were prevalent, the company unionized because the owner believed in it and it was an excellent way for the guys and the company to make a lot of money.
However, as time went on, many more companies started popping up (in all industries) that were non-union. This wasn't really a huge deal because there was still a lot of work for us, so we were fine.
What's happening now is that unionized companies are almost completely uncompetitive.
What happens basically is this:
An owner wants to build a building,
an architect creates the plans/blueprints for everything and sends them out to a few General Contractors
The GCs then create a contract by getting all of the trades to send them a price for how much their respective jobs will cost.
The owner then looks at the prices and goes with the cheapest option.
Now, Unionized workers, because of all of their benefits/union dues, cost much more than non-union. Therefore, all of the owners/general contractors go with the non-union workers purely because they are so much cheaper which will help them get the job.
This is why unions are not always a good thing. It makes a company very expensive and uncompetitive compared to those who aren't unionized, therefore, owners/business people who only care about money will always go for the cheaper options.
So, unionized workers can make $100/hr, but it doesn't matter if they aren't getting any work.
Why would someone pay for workers who cost almost 50% more?
tl;dr Unionized workers are much more expensive than non-unionized, therefore, businesses don't want to hire unionized workers because it costs so much more. Makes it very hard to find work.
(I understand each industry is different, however, this is just my experience with it and I may have to find a new job because of it)