My first union had that reputation. I became a steward and was known as a reformer. Honestly, they weren’t particularly corrupt or self dealing, they were just really bad at messaging for the employees. Over time, it just became “common knowledge” that the leadership was secretive and self dealing.

I don’t mean that to say that yours wasn’t self dealing. Those existed and continue to exist. But I have also never been in a union where the labor body was involved and took it seriously and also had those kinds of problems. If there’s one takeaway I learned from unions, it’s that we get the union we deserve. When we’re in it and active as a body, those were always the best unions. When we have an apathetic labor body, we have an apathetic union.

There will always be factions like every other human activity. People will often be tribal to the detriment of the whole. But at the same time, in my experience, those most against “unions” were almost always the people least involved or not involved at all.