The provision of office space and time on the “job” for union representation has been common for decades. Just how much time is now spent by feral “employees” on union business I don’t know but nearly 30 years ago my late father was spending at least 2 days a week as a manager dealing with union activities and complaints. Actual work on the project he managed was done by a shrinking minority people the rest were larking at taxpayer expense. As the Greatest Generation retired the problems of managing the “workforce” became ever worse.
During my Federal employment several decades ago, the answer to the question, “how many people work here” was the same as the answer to the old Johnny Hart question, “how many criminal lawyers are there in this town?”
Namely... “about half”.