How is a union any different in that respect than a corporation? I mean on a theoretical level. A true free-market firm would just be an association of individuals making individually negotiated transactions, with no employee-employer relationship, and no coordination on the side of purchasing labor. Of course that's very inefficient outside of pure theory. A corporation acts as a coordinating body that collectively negotiates the purchasing of labor contracts, and a union collectively negotiates on the selling side.

I don't care about the free market, I just want food and shelter for my family.

Sounds like the union negotiated a heck of a deal for the parent poster

Care to back up that definitive statement? Or is it just a pavlovian reflex?

So are corporations.