In my part of the world (Australia, but similarly in NZ) unions are not as controversial as they are in the United States, but they only seem to have one type of structure. Usually they are of various employees of multiple employers in the one industry. Membership is almost always voluntary.
People sometimes join them, and some industries are unionised to a greater degree (teachers and nurses are examples of the more unionised ones) but for the most part, people object to paying dues when most of their basic rights are assured by legislation anyway. I've asked unions for help in the past for specific things, and not found them particularly helpful.
However, I see the value of unionising my specific workplace independently of other, similar organisations. For one, the work we do is quite specialised. However the business is a non-profit and therefore wages are garbage. The usual “dream job” tax.
The other thing is, they've had a string of people quit, and as it now is, only the founder of the organisation and myself are suitably qualified to actually deliver the end product. I kind of have them over a barrel. Staff in other teams have also been hard to hold onto, and even harder to replace.
There are a few basic labour rules that the employer is breaking, and conditions can be really tough, with management (not my manager, thanks to staffing issues I don't have one) really underestimating staff knowledge and skills. People don't feel listened to, and so they quit. I feel close to it myself sometimes. This week in particular has been really challenging.
I'm hoping I can use my value in the organisation (I'm not indispensable, but replacing me would be very difficult at this point) and the value of my colleagues to improve things for everyone. So many people are thinking of quitting and we'll be absolutely buggered if even a couple of them did. This to me means we have more power over this specific organisation than we do over a whole industry, even when combined with our comrades in other organisations. (Unless they're all fucked too, perhaps they are!) But unionising one workplace just isn't the done thing. It's really complicated to set up a union formally.
Is there a way to bargain collectively without an actual union? Should I just bargain for the things I need, but that I know will also help other people, when discussing my own continuing employment? Or do I just stay there and try to improve things gradually by complaining and calling out bullshit? Or fuck it, do I just quit?