At Equinix, and other datacenters, you can't plug in certain electrical equipment without a Union worker. Often times this can be done significantly cheaper by an independent electrician (or an intern with a little bit of courage).

I've been an Equinix customer (50 racks for 4 years.) I'm OK with Equinix having to plug in my PDUs for me. That wiring is their responsibility. All I care about is how much it costs, and I really don't care about that either because I only pay it once. That makes the cost about zero relative to what I pay for space and power.

So, the reason I should care if their worker is union or not is... ?

That's nothing. Try setting up a booth at a union staffed convention center. You can pay for electricity, but there is a separate fee for "plugging in" your device. It must be done by a licensed union electrician.

No, I don't mean some special equipment with some wiring involved.

I mean if you plug in your phone charger with a union electrician, he will still come out, unplug, replug it in, then charge you $65. Gotta round up to the nearest hour of course.

I've also set up booths at several union-staffed convention centers. In all cases I got a power strip that I could plug stuff into myself. Yes, the fees for everything sucked. The fees at non-union convention centers suck a little less, but they still suck. I'm not sure what you point is?

That's because you or whoever setup your contract prepaid for the electrical plug in. A union electrician came and plugged in that power strip before you got there and added the $65 to your overall bill.