Unions in this day and age,like it or not have to face cold market realities.
Actually it is members ,not the union who must deal with these issues first hand.Unions will do what they have to do for survival of their business...while the membership is out there basically on their own for their own vested interest.The union knows there will be reductions and can't do much except limit the numbers the best they can.Again...its the members who end up with the short end of the stick.
With union membership and participation severely lacking these days,management knows all to well their employees will have a limit...and in most cases its against the employees.