As an inspector who works alongside governmental inspectors, I have to dside with Curious. I have noted exceptional work quality done by union workers AND by non-union workers. It's all based on the individual. The issue is often the mentality which will create such tight slots that it actually takes 2 people to do the same job because when something goes wrong, the union guy can't assist in a fix lest he get timeslipped by another guy who has to be called over for something that can take an hour for a 30-second fix. Also, my wife works under a union--and the HORROR stories that she comes home with are nothing short of unbelievable.
This thread has degenerated into the predictable labor vs rich guy mentality, where nobody makes any progress, so the namecalling starts.