Pretty much agreed, I just think the same types of good & bad things happen without unions, just on an individual or departmental scale. It's more visible with unions because it happens all at once and on a larger scale, but I'm not convinced that the overall magnitude is that different.
As an example of the individual/departmental level where there was no union involved: I was embedded within a large, mostly customer-facing area. A scheduling change came down that said everyone had to work late hours twice a week on a rotation, for two six-week periods each year when there was increased demand. I don't work with customers, there was no need for me to modify my schedule. I ran things up the chain and a few days later there was a minor policy change that basically said "everyone except him".
Then you are lucky (as many of us in software are) that you had enough pull for that.
Where unions or worker organization (even without a formal union and dues and such) come in is if this doesn't work because individual pull is not enough.
Your case you were lucky, in many an organization you would just have been told "you gotta take one for the team, we cannot make exceptions, then everyone wants one" (note that I don't agree with that but seen/heard this too many times)
As an example of the individual/departmental level where there was no union involved: I was embedded within a large, mostly customer-facing area. A scheduling change came down that said everyone had to work late hours twice a week on a rotation, for two six-week periods each year when there was increased demand. I don't work with customers, there was no need for me to modify my schedule. I ran things up the chain and a few days later there was a minor policy change that basically said "everyone except him".