Hard to make independent judgements on blogged opinion pieces without the original cite.
That said, there is alot in the union game these days that I don't agree with. In my union we have secret balloting and would not consider anything different. The federal sector is not a union shop per se, all non management employees are in the bargaining unit but there is no requirement that they pay dues to the national union. Likewise, our chapter is not required to represent non members past a certain point in the disciplinary process.
Non members get a free ride when it comes to benefits lobbied on their behalf by our national union, pay raises and such. We recently gained a 20 year law enforcement retirement through those efforts. Political action committees are paid out of separate funds. Federal unions are prohibited from using dues payments for PAC efforts so any funds raised on that behalf is done privately.
That and we don't really have a "strong" union. Most of our contracts are written with vague language which favors management. Hard and fast work rules usually exist in statute rather than in agreement.
And these days the agency cloaks everything in "national security," to coerce our national leaders from talking in public. Facial hair for example, is a matter of national security.
Can't talke about it, said too much already :-)
b.b.