The COVID-19 pandemic

[Bjays93]

Yes, basically. But you do get distortions where the unions may go overboard to protect small groups of members, to the detriment of either the wider society, or the rest of their members. For example ...

• Nurses' union opposing vaccination requirements
  
• Some teachers' unions opposing merit-based promotions
  
• Some police unions opposing body cameras or legal responsibility for illegal actions
  
• NHL players' union opposing stronger discipline for violence
  

I may be cherry-picking here, but I don't think the unions represent the majority of their membership in any of the above cases.

I will say that I read the summary of the nurses' union arbitration decision and how the arbitrator concluded that the science (a few years ago) for the mask-or-vaccine policy wasn't that good. It is true that the flu vaccine isn't that effective. But I don't think that precedent should actually apply to COVID-19, where the vaccine has been shown to be much better.

I concur. I'd argue that masks are actually vastly superior to the flu vaccine but covid is very different