1% of your earnings every year is typically quite a bit more than a legal consultation 1-2x/decade. Unions can provide other things of course, but joining a union in order to avoid paying for a lawyer feels like buying a house to avoid renting a hotel room for a week. (Unions also make it less likely that reviewing terms in your contract that you find objectionable/unworkable would be fruitful. They may make it less necessary, but when it's necessary it often becomes pointless.)