Started a new job a month or so ago, got in the mail today my letter from what would be called Local 7. It's relating to my employment and the Union I will now be a part of, and how deductions are going to be started weekly and monthly it seems from my paychecks to pay "membership" for something that I don't believe is all that necessary anymore. The reason why I don't think it's necessary is simply for the fact that this isn't the 1900s anymore. We don't have that many factories and large industrial areas with thousands of workers all working on machinery and such. We have machines to do that work and we supervise the production ourselves. Unions were there to protect the workers, make sure working conditions and rights were treated fairly, and to insure that we were not wrongfully terminated and otherwise. But now, in my honest opinion I don't see a point to being in a mandatory Union that can take money out of my wages for something I will likely not need, it's seen as a less useful form of insurance to me. Perhaps I'm largely ignorant on this as a whole, which is why I'm asking this question. Are Unions still worth it in most working areas? Or do they only really help a small percentage these days and just sap money from us like taxes do since our debt, in the US, is not being reciprocated properly.