I think it's ignorance. Any company should know that Homer Deakins has the interests of only one organization in mind - the law firm of Homer Deakins. He cares no more about the client company than he does about the union, and his primary interest is getting more money paid to him. The longer the negotiations go on, the more money he makes. And because he's a lawyer, he is believed, I suppose.
Some studies have been done on comparisons of companies with, and without, unions, notably one published in Scientific American magazine. It found that the most productive, and most profitable, companies were those that had a union and had a good relationship with the union, and allowed it some input into how the companies were run. Next were companies with no union. The least productive, and least profitable, companies by far were those that had a union and an adverserial relationship with it. American Airlines under Crandall is a good example of this, and Southwest Airlines is an example of the former. While maintaining mostly good relations with its unions, Southwest has become one of the most profitable airlines in the world. American, which has had very poor relations with its unions, very nearly went out of business, and is still not profitable. Bitterness caused by strained labor relations doesn't go away quickly, if ever. Air Log will never be as profitable as it could be as long as the current management culture stays in place, and even if it changes tomorrow the bitterness will last for years, if not decades. IMO, it's ignorance of these things, pure and simple, that causes the problems, compounded of course by the inflated egos of overpaid executives.