The whole "it's US centric" "QA need it but maybe not us" lines are just... Missing the forest for the trees.

People are not immune to corporate bullshit because they're outside the US or in a different department. Everything could be better, and everyone should have someone at their back when things go wrong.

all this month i'm working about 45 hours a week, just standing at a kiosk all day and it is literally @austin and @morecivilized that's keeping me going lol

I'm viewing this as a field of landmines but I'll say this.
Unions are a tool. Tools often are used for good, but can be bad.
The Old Unions, a lot of people point to, were a bunch of local guys together.
Unions Today, are massive conglomerates, near equal in scope to the things they 'fight'.
Many times, they become indistinguishable. i.e., non-union small time VAs being ousted from role after role because the union will not support someone not paying their dues, or a massive industry attempting a one size fits all approach, from the top down, that hurts a lot of groups that now are struggling to fit a hole not actually made with them in mind.

This is not undermining the positives the tool has, but pointing out, that responses that might see them as negative, might have experienced the negatives of that tool.

That's my only big "gentle hand raise" on this one. Not even trying to argue, just a, "thing to keep in mind, if you want."