Can you imagine pay, promotion, and assignment by seniority instead of skill? Doesn't sound very appealing to me.
Virtually every union in the US
> its not my experience working as an M&P grade in a unionised company in the UK.
Yeah. Tesla isn't based in the UK, nor are the wroker in question here.
And I suspect the vast majority of imported H1b's would love a seniority "buggins turn" system.
You can, for instance form a union, whose sole purpose is bargaining for pay bands in a company with well-defined job roles. You can form a union that only fights 'arbitrary' dismissal of employees for their political views. You can form a union that only negotiates working conditions, and overtime rules and rates.
Pointing at the worst example of a union, and claiming that they are fundamentally broken is like me pointing at the worst employer you can imagine, and claiming that corporations are fundamentally broken.
Unions are democratic organizations, employers are authoritarian ones. You can decide what direction your union should go.