Thought this might shed some light on my thinking, at least, with unions:

Addison

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Shark Tank: How to saving time and money with outsourcing

Department manager in a highly outsourced corporate environment orders a fancy new color laser printer, which arrives in a cardboard carton strapped to a wooden pallet.

Manager contacts desktop-support outsourcer for installation. No problem, says support manager pilot fish -- call the change-management outsourcer to order a network connection, and we'll get this going for you.

Network connection is ordered and installed with no problem. But the department manager mentions she needs a little help determining where to place the printer,so change-management sends out a rep.

The change-management rep sees the box. And the pallet. And estimates the
following personnel will be required for installation:
A desktop-support guy to configure user workstations with appropriate drivers.
And a server-support guy to configure printer queues.
And a network-services guy to install the network connection.
And a hardware-support guy to configure the printer and install toner cartridge.
And facilities contractors to lift the printer from the floor onto the desk.

But before any of them arrive, they'll need a union carpenter to unstrap the box from the pallet (after all, it's made of wood).

Which isn't going to happen -- carpenters are expensive and require two weeks' notice.

Furious department manager calls support manager pilot fish. Fish spends a day dealing with heated e-mails, visits from senior management and threats that his head will be on a platter if he circumvents the process.

Then he calls the department manager, a desktop-support tech and a
hardware-support guy into the room with the printer.

Fish tells desktop-support tech, "You'll be needing the software for this
printer, won't you? Here, let me help you retrieve it." He pulls out a pocket knife, slices the plastic packing strap and opens the top of the cardboard carton, exposing the printer.

Then he hands the driver disk to desktop support and reminds him to call server support to configure the queue.

To the hardware-support guy, fish says, "Wouldn't it be easier for you to work on this with the printer sitting on a table? Let me help you lift it into place."

Turning back to the desktop tech, fish says, "When the hardware tech finishes the installation, you'll need to test from a user's desk. If you have problems connecting, you might want to check the network cable. I'll bet you can get it running by reconnecting it -- just part of the same trouble ticket."

Finally, fish turns back to the now relieved department manager. "I'm surprised," fish says. "Change-management forgot to order an electrician to plug this in."