Just casual doubletalk, or hypocritical?
Neither. To be more specific unions tend to become run by ignorant militants with poltical agendas, read UK history from around the 60s and 70s for an illustration.
On the other hand they are necessary for the reasons illustrated by the 49ers. For a current example where a union is claiming to represent its members but has been doing them a disservice for years and is leading them by the nose into an unwinnable fight have a look at BA cabin crew union BASSA and its current dispute. That is why I generally dislike unions and the people who lead them.
BALPA and other airline unions do have the distinct advantage of generally having intelligent people at the helm who do not blindly follow socialist doctrine with no acknowledgement of commercial reality.