Sticking to the Union part of the thread, Unions tend to attempt to negotiate for all on the same terms which is not too bad when everybody have the same responsibilities and general duties and are strictly supervised. A Union negotiating for a mobile unsupervised workforce will try to get the best deal bulk of the workforce. This always leaves the bottom 30% getting more than their performance deserves and the top 30% getting less than their performance deserves. Companies match thier offers to the Unions stance looking to keep the middle happy. It is always better for the hardworking majority to have no Union involvement and negotiate pay, T&C's individually.
Unions are good for the weak and poor for the strong and i am happy with that as that is actually what they are there for.
I doubt any Union negotiated deal will ever please more than 60% of any workforce.