Asking for a near-future self.
I've had the good fortune to not only be part of a union, but in a shop with awesome coworkers, and, for the last 13 years, awesome, competent supervisors. Those supervisors all came from the union, and from our technical field, except for the next to last one.
The next-to-last one didn't know our job, and didn't know what questions to ask. When he abruptly left, after failing to ask those questions during the planning of a huge project, my first supervisor was yanked back into the role.
Hes a great guy. He's the guy who hired me. And he's so fed up with how this project was managed, and how our shop is being expected to make up for all the failed planning, that he put in his two months notice for retirement.
Our pay is pretty good, but as a divorcee with kids, I need more money. Moreover, I'm terrified of us getting a supervisor who either doesn't know the job, or is an asshole, or both.
So I'm putting in for that supervisor position. I have no aspirations to move up in the company past that. I just want to make sure this shop and the team in it are taken care of.
This does mean I'd be leaving the Union. I'd be management. I'd have to follow certain rules that are probably contraindicated for what I'd think are ethical. I can try to change these, or push back, but I wouldn't be high in the hierarchy.
So, my question: would I be a bastard for going into management, to make more money, knowing that I wouldn't be able to be a perfectly ethical supervisor to my union shop? I'd try like hell to be, but ultimately, if it was my job on the line, I don't know what I'd do.