I'm a unionized worker at a university. We don't have a super great union local… outside of bargaining and dealing with grievance processes, it's mostly inactive (no social engagements or mobilization). I've attempted to support mobilization in the past, but found our local president to be both disorganized & controlling, and that I couldn't really contribute much because of this. I also get the impression that we don't have a ton of support from our union's central committee; our staff rep is constantly reprimanding us for not being mobilized, but doesn't ever offer support or suggestions.
We have been bargaining for nearly a year now, and we just voted no to ratifying the employer's “best” offer, so we're moving closer to a no-board and potentially a strike. Lots of our members are very freaked out about striking which makes total sense given that our union doesn't have strong social connections.
As a part of the conversation before the ratification vote, myself and a few other members pointed out that everyone on the employer's bargaining team all make between 150-300K, and that the university has a President Emeritus, who is being paid a president's salary for doing less than the duties of the president. Hours later, we then got a local-wide email from the president telling people not to “villainize individuals for their salaries”… not only was this passive aggressively rude to myself and the other members who brought it up, attitudes like this kill morale!
Both our local president and our staff rep also prop up the idea that it will be less effective if, as university employees, we strike in the winter instead of the fall. Yes striking in the fall would be a significantly disruptive start to the school year, but striking in the winter still throws off the academic school year calendar, still interrupts course selection for some students, and shuts down virtually everything on campus outside of classes.
I guess the short version is: I am tired of our union leadership undermining morale!!!