In the Economist last week - a pertinent analysis of European austerity that echoes the resistance to change in many employee groups:
Even in the worst-hit countries, protests rarely come from the main victims of the crisis: the young, immigrants and temporary workers. Unemployment in Spain is close to 20%, but the loudest squeals have come from full-time workers arguing against raising the pension age to 67. Greek civil servants are mobilising to defend generous pensions that most of their countrymen will never enjoy. Other strikers include Greek tax collectors (whose bribe-taking is one reason why the country is broke) and taxi drivers furious over plans to make them issue receipts, keep accounts and pay taxes on their full incomes. Elsewhere, strikers have included French air-traffic controllers, said in a recent study by French state auditors to work fewer than 100 days a year—though nobody knows for sure, as their perks include shift patterns kept secret from senior management.
It is perhaps no surprise to find that organised workers in positions of privilege, including many in the public sector, fight the hardest and squeal the most in defence of their benefits.
I'm afraid the Independent's analysis misses the point entirely - a responsible union negotiates the best for its members knowing the external financial position of the company. An irresponsible one fails to negotiate and ignores economic reality.