It is OK for the most part, I like the union and see it as a safety net but salary demeans us.
Pros
Empowerment, generally speaking your are your own boss. No foreman or shift foreman over your back 24/7 telling you what to do or how to take a dump. You do have a supervisor which is your operations leader, and technical adviser. I like the feel of this setup, much better then most other places I been.
Cons
Engineers do not always make good boss or leaders. A very smart tech savoy person might not be a good leader. I fail to see how they never hire operation leaders from other sources. The requirement seems to be based on the good old boys club of engineering. Another unpleasant fact I deal with is blocking the internet of union operators or leaving that decision for operational leaders. While non-union operators have full access, imagine being sent link after link even form the CEO or other leader saying go hear check this video out or vote on the USA team uniform. Guess what even important training links are block my job requires internet access but because of poor judgement and backwater thinking they block it specifically to union operators.