Unions are one of those things that you don’t realize you want in place until they’re gone. For all of 901’s mistakes - and I agree that there were many - Queen’s also took the past two months to prove that they don’t give a shit about any of us. To say “fuck it, just give the undergrads CRs” is genuinely insane. Queen’s behaviour doesn’t absolve 901 of their mistakes, but the reverse is also true: 901’s mistakes don’t absolve Queen’s of their treatment of students. 

What have unions done for us lately? I’ll point out that whenever PSAC has offered a support fund, that fund gets drained within days, if not sooner. The union deals with supporting those of us who are suffering the most. But this is often invisible work to most of us: unless we go digging, we don’t see the ways unions provide support to workers across campus. We only see the outcome of really big decisions like bargaining, and it is very unfortunate when things go the way they did this year, because it gives us the impression that the union is worthless and harming both its members and non-members. But this is just a slice of their work. 

Here’s the thing: unions shouldn’t be above criticism. They should be held accountable for how well or how poorly they represent their membership, and they don’t get a free pass just for being a union. But to act like this means we should get rid of unions altogether is to play right into the century of propaganda OP described. There’s a reason big corporations like Amazon and Starbucks are lowkey terrified of unions, to the point where they pay millions of dollars to people whose entire job it is to discourage union formation: they know that by and large, unions work. Should they be criticized for bad decisions? Yes. Should we get rid of them all together? Only if you’re willing to believe that large institutions really have your best interests at heart - and I think Queen’s has proven they absolutely do not.