Not only but when industrial unions came to power, industrial workers were the highest demand profession.

United artists, AFTRA, WGA, DGA, all formed when their skills were in high demand. There's a natural employer/employee power dynamic that even Adam Smith talks about. If his fanboys only read his books they'd know that.

This is true, but it doesn't stem from union organisers opportunistically seizing the best moment to negotiate. Rather, some people are always trying to organise collective action, management usually calls their bluff, and the striking employees end up coming back to work or being replaced. When they can't be replaced easily or they have alternatives to coming back to work, management is forced to the negotiating table.

There's an alternative narrative where the government steps in and says hey, you have to allow unions. In practice, while some government support is necessary, this doesn't seem to lead to powerful unions in the same way.

Any country where tech workers are mistreated as a rule?

China. they've got the notorious "9-9-6" hours. "9 AM to 9PM, 6 days a week".

Are there a lot of labor unions in China?

The All-China Federation of Trade Unions is the largest trade union in the world, with 302 million members.

Of course, some would say taking the ACFTU as representative of unions is like taking the East India Company as representative of multinational corporations...

They're also arguably not an actual independent trade union, but rather a tool of the government.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All-China_Federation_of_Trade_...

Not really.[1]

[1] https://www.chinabusinessreview.com/trade-union-law-and-coll...