Years ago, a buddy of mine worked at a small company making castings. He had to join the union or he couldn't get a job. After a while, he and the other workers saw no benefit of them paying dues, so they stopped. A few days later a Suit and two goons show up. The goons say that if dues weren't paid up, there would be some "accidents".
At that point, my buddy and his pals all took up the sledges used to open the moulds and said that the "accidents" wouldn't all be to them. The Suit steps in with the "Now, now fellas . . ." routine and promises that they would see some changes. Everything calmed down and they all left.
The workers foolishly started paying their dues again, and of course nothing changed. My buddy left soon after.
In the 50s and 60s I was forced to work in two unions - garment workers at Macy's in NYC while I was going to trade school, and the Typographers Union in San Diego. I never saw any violence or threats - just the flat out attitude of "Shut up and pay your dues". I went to the Typographers one time about a boss who thought it was still the 1930s and treated his workers accordingly. All they told me was "Well, Ole Walt is just a big bear. You'll have to put up with him." Luckily I heard about computer programming . . .
I never saw any violence or threats - just the flat out attitude of “Shut up and pay your dues”.
Sort of like - “Shut up and vote for the GOPe candidate.
My experience was with two goons, no Suits. I was a skinny teenager, not even 5’ 6”, and I had no chance against them. I did not want them to “break both of your arms” as they threatened, so I quit the job immediately. They were the thugs who inspired me to learn to fight and to shoot, taking both seriously. They also left me hating evil with a passion I would not feel if I had not personally encountered union activists doing what unions do best.