I agree in general, but this article claims that the unionized tech workers now have pay increases, cheaper health benefits, and layoff protections. There is also a discussion about the process. This article at least is not just "unions good" (waves hands).

The same way every other union works... I don't get your question? The unions that do work, are not the ones you see on tv. When something explodes, specially a union, it gets massive coverage. When a union works, any achivement gets burried while the negative press is the only one given coverage(1, 2, 3, 4).

So, I will challenge the reader: unions win about 7 out of 10 elections to get certified/created. Does your mental image of labor news look like 70% wins? If not, ask why

1: https://www.benjnewman.com/uploads/1/2/2/1/122135844/kane_ne...

2: https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7591/j.ctv3s8mwx

3: https://www.projectcensored.org/unions-won-more-than-70-perc...

4: https://www.mediamatters.org/labor-unions-and-workers-rights...

Pretend for a moment, then, that I've never worked in a unionized industry and everything I know about unions is from the media environment that you say is untrustworthy. I think it would be very helpful, in that case, to write the few hundred words about how exactly my life as an employee would change.

A union is a collection of workers who negotiate together against their employer using the leverage of strikes and other work stoppages. They are democratically controlled with regular elections for union leadership and votes for major actions like strikes. This means that the union can decide for itself what things it wants to extract from an employer. Through democratic control you will have some influence on its priorities. Unions typically extract a small portion of the pay of its members so that it can fund operations.