Here's another example (or two, actually) Both the AFSCME and SEIU represent 96% civil service employees, local, state and federal government . . They can't strike, they can't (or aren't supposed to by most State Constitutions) support colletive bargaining . . but they do.
Back when I was a lot younger (and better looking) I took a job as a City Planner, a civil service position, and hadn't been on the job longer than three days when one employee and the local B.A. jumped me outside the office and informed me that I "MUST" sign up with the Union (AFSCME) in order to hold my job. Well, I knew Colorado was a "Right to Work" State and they were piping Bullsh*t. And before that I had belonged to both The Steel Worker's Union and The Operating Engineer's Union . .
They persisted, and I finally took the Co-worker to lunch, beat the hell out of him and went back to work after dropping him off at the ER . . The B.A. caught me in a bar about two weeks later and I took him out in the parking lot and beat the sh*t out of him and never heard another word about joining the Union.
But the bottom line is this. They only wanted my money. As a civil servant they couldn't do anything FOR me, but tried to do TO me . . Currently, AFSCME and SEIU are two of Obama's greatest supporters, both monetarily and in muscle (See Acorn, etc.) . .
And I've always been a hardass because I carry two and three quarters pounds of Muscle in the center of my back, just above my belt . . and have for most of my life . .