Quite often the media goes out of their way to discredit unions. Often if a union leader does get into trouble, the media blows it out of proportion. They refer to the leader as a thug or union boss. But corporate leaders that get into trouble are often excused or downplayed. It is not unusual to have stories about the union next to crime stories.
Today there are few writers that know and understand unions.
There used to be syndicated columns about unionism. As an adolescent I remember reading Victor Riesel. The point to all of this is that people become self-fulfilling prophecies and let corporate America and their minions like George W. Bush form their ideologies. And their are members that won't take responsibility and are too harsh and critical of union representatives. Overall the unions do well, but unfortunately there are some real jerks out there.