Congrats! Especially for surviving that ordeal. I was very active in an AFL/CIO chapter local as a VP for some time. It was an uphill battle against the lib members. I convinced non-libs that one of the best ways to fight corrupt unions is to infiltrate and steer them away from corruption. One time there was a loud meeting about committing people and funds towards supporting an SEIU strike line, and I argued against the key person leading that argument. I convinced the union boss that I would seek to split half the chapter away with loss of dues since they were not fulfilling their charter about the true needs of the members. The union boss said I was right, and killed the support SEIU issue. The lib officer who was arguing with me, quit.
Many people don't realize that many union members are conservative but forced to be members of unions, and are forced to go along against what the employee feels is right, while their dues money is taken and used. I tell these conservative members to get involved and do something about it.
I was president of a faculty union at a STEM college that also had a business program. With the exception of the arts and sciences faculty, most of us are fairly conservative.
We have had some issues with union but not many. A couple of the business faculty have pointed out serious errors that management has made in determining the cost raises and so forth. They have in some cased overstated wages and benefit costs by 40%. Pretty sloppy work on their part.