Nothing serious, but the general consensus online is that it would be the smart thing to do. Note the keyword online. Given that I frequented Reddit and now Lemmy, there's obviously a bias.
UK people were kinda drunk on their former glory and didn't quite notice that basically everyone worth considering (US, EU, China) has the upper hand when dealing with them alone. Realistically speaking, they'll have to join EU (or its successor) eventually if they want to stay relevant. We might be talking 10 years, 20 years, 50 or even 100. If I personally had to guess, it's gonna be 20 to 40 years.
Edit: Forgot to mention that UK had a lot of exceptions because they joined quite early where they had a lot more political strength over the union. When they join, they'll have to do it by the same rules as everyone else without exceptions which many of them are salty about (meaning those who are generally pro-rejoin but not under the same rules as other countries).
Well, our ~800 people company has unions too. But they don't do sh#t for people. And I mean real sh#t. Except for once a year they have a meeting with free sandwiches they eat and then go home. Another year of unions well done... apparently by them.
But my friends working in big technical/industrial corp say their unions are quite strong and they at least care for employees a bit.
So yeah, there're unions to this day, but their meaning is not met everywhere.
Are you sure your union isn't helping? No union is going to be run by miracle workers, but that doesn't mean they don't improve conditions. I can't say for sure, but I suspect this sentiment is part of why union membership fell apart in the 20th century "well my union doesn't do anything for me anyways."
Like democracy, unions do require some upkeep via people stepping up. If you don't like how your union is performing, you could consider becoming a rep (admittedly based on my limited understanding as a non-union employee).
Yes, I am pretty sure. I know most people there personally. It's kind of sad it even exists, pretty much waste of money in this case.
//edit: it's virtually impossible to become rep in this case. The company is like family business (not real family, but everyone knows everyone since forever kind of thing) and it is like stalemate for everyone both in union and in management. Unions know they won't do anything without trying hard (and they won't because most of them are nearing retirement and they want their peace) and management know unions won't cause them problems, because they're what they are.
Yeah, they lack personal freedom in USA, it's just the way it is. Freedom means it's ok for your boss to spy on you, they're free to do that and you are free to be spied on. Oh and they get to own a gun which makes them like really really cool and tough.
Installing software to log and remotely access a computer is not illegal.
Remember that the computer isn't yours and that you signed a document permitting it.
Not restricting access and using it maliciously might be illegal though. Idk.