No, this is just the truth of working at BigCorp. Most engineers can pretend office politics doesn't exist because they're working in primarily nonpolitical roles. But office politics exists, for any office. And unionization is political.
An approach that has some form of checks, however formal (for purposes of quality and accountability), is entirely reasonable, and especially where there is a notable risk of exploitation (historical or likely potential.)
But I've worked full-time essentially non-stop for a quarter century in a wide range of organizations (in an employee context: 3-person small business up through several thousand people enterprises), and default distrust is a red flag regardless.