My grandfather was once elected as President of the Electrical workers and Machinists at RCA. The CIO was very unhappy with his election and tried to get him moved to management because he was the model maker and very skilled. He didn’t want to do that because he had something’s that he wanted to do as President of the Union. ( end the racist hiring policy) The CIOA tried to have him killed. He and my grandmother were run down by a hit and run driver as they stepped off the curb in front of their house.
RCA closed down the plant and moved out of the Delaware Valley. When my grandfather recovered, Camden County elected him to the NJ State Assembly. The CIO waged a political war against him, accusing him of being a Communist and referred him to the HUAC. Nothing came of the charges, but the FBI ruined the rest of his life and scared my mother and Grandmother to death. Can you imagine the Union accusing someone of being a Communist?
I hear ya! For me, I have no use forbthem . The were needed at one point but not sure now.