I was a union member back in the 70's and 80's. Didn't do me much good, The one time I had to deal with them, (outside of paying dues), was when I let a musician go because he showed up roaring drunk three nights in a row. I mean so drunk that he fell of the stage. He had been partially drunk every night for the first week and a half of the gig. Anyway when the union heard about it we all had a sit-down. Because he was on the contract for 4 weeks work I had to pay him a full 2 weeks salary out of my own pocket. They were in no way sympathetic to me in the least. That was when I decided to take union jobs when available and also take non-unin jobs also. I have never missed them since my membership expired. I do however feel unions are necessary, especially for the classical musicians and for the big Vegas style gigs. If you are playing in a pub atmosphere (like I did) then they are not that important.