I have had several folks over the years say to me “wow, your employer sure does pay well and gives you good benefits“. I respond with “no, my union got me those wages and decent health insurance and safety standards in place so I go home in one piece at the end of the day.“ I have been around some workers that refused to join the union but they had no problem accepting the raise in pay the union got us. By the way, many of the regulations that OSHA and MSHA has in place came from pressure from unions to ensure that workers made it home to their families at the end of the day.