At the risk of being seriously flamed, I'd like to expand of what I wrote above. The number 1 priority of a union is to survive, to continue to exist. It can only do this if it has financial members, and the more the better! When push comes to shove, it will always put it's own interests ahead of those of it's members. Most of the time these interests coincide, but occasionally some members will be 'sacrificed' in the interests of defending their turf and keeping the highest possible membership. Imagine if all these QF SO's who are facing the axe right now had been given the option to transfer to Jetstar Au, or Jetstar NZ, or Jetconnect (ok, not recruiting at the moment), or Jetstar Asia, or Vietnam? The redundancies would evaporate because some of the business units are experiencing expansion, while others are contracting (mainline). Unfortunately, the free transfer of labour between business units tends to be against the interests of the unions (turf protection) and hence they try and convince their members it is also against their interests. Members of the various unions should be demanding transfer provisions in their contract agreements. In my view, the only way this will succeed is if the unions talk to one another and draw up some boundary lines so that they can be assured of maintaining a sustainable level of membership, and hence survival of the union. You see, the unions are playing right into the hands of the senior management by pitting their members against those of the other unions, in the interests of survival of the union.
Declaration: I am not anti unionisation, I am a member of a pilot union myself. We just need to get them working more for the members and less for themselves.