Unions are meant to be sanctuaries. They are spaces where the voiceless find strength. These are places where fairness overrides favoritism. No one stands alone there. But what occurs when the institution built to defend the rights and dignity of workers becomes complicit? It becomes involved in the very harm it claims to oppose.

It’s a painful paradox. Those called to shield others from bullying, harassment, and injustice start to practice those same behaviors behind closed doors. Not openly, not brazenly, but quietly—through exclusion, silencing, withholding of information, and administrative manipulation. It becomes a space where not being part of the inner circle poses a challenge. Your presence challenges the status quo. Your very existence becomes inconvenient. You are not engaged—you are erased.

This is not said in anger or bitterness, but in truth. A system that pretends to work is more dangerous than a broken one. Those on the margins quietly endure harm. They face humiliation and isolation.

The mismanagement, maladministration, and weaponization of process is not just about poor leadership. It is about a culture—a culture that creates an unspoken arena where difference is punished, and conformity is rewarded. It becomes clear: if you are not like them, they will make space unbearable for you.

But there is power in naming these patterns. In refusing to join in systems that disguise injustice as “procedure.” In holding leadership accountable not just for their public statements. It’s crucial how they treat those who challenge, question, or simply don’t fit their mold.

This is a call not for destruction—but for transformation. For those who believe in what unions should be, the work begins by confronting what they have become. Silence serves no one. Truth, though uncomfortable, is the first step toward healing.

If you have ever been cast aside, misrepresented, or quietly removed from the table, you are not alone. And your courage to speak the truth, even when your voice shakes, matters more than you know.

“When a union punishes difference and shields dysfunction, it stops being a refuge. It becomes a replica of the very oppression it was created to fight.”
— Wings of Courage