No. In most cases they were FORCED to enter into contracts, either because the law requires it or because the union monopolized the workforce. Why would the company enter into a union contract voluntarily?
you make it apparent you are unacquainted with labor provisions
the employer cannot be forced to enter into any particular contract
it can be required to participate in good faith at the bargaining table in an attempt to write a contract
but the terms of any contract are the outcome of bargaining by the parties
The contract is entirely one-sided.
the contract is entirely one sided when one of the sides is incompetent
sometimes that is the description of the union's representatives
other times it is the employer's representatives who exhibit their ineptitude
What does a union offer the company that a free market does not?
the union offers employees who share the interests of the company in a way that employees who know they are easily expendable do not
it offers employees with a knowledge base; employees who actually do the work of the company. they know where the inefficiencies are
and relative to unions representing public organizations, the union can provide continuity which might otherwise not be possible
that is because the public entities are usually headed by political appointees, who stay
only for the duration of the term of the elected official who appointed them. they frequently come into an organization knowing little to nothing about the entity they are to head. they often bring with them a retinue of hangers on who also serve at the whim of the elected official. knowing little about what the organization they are to manage does, they frequently insist on doing some of the things they should not. the appointees often make inappropriate, politically motivated decisions an experienced learder would not make
then the managers, career employees, who report to these appointed officials, must salute and follow their legal orders, no matter how wrongheaded those orders may be
and the rank and file union members must follow the managers' legal orders - unless the union contract provides for a different way to handle those matters ... such as how to hire people, and how to promote people, and how to solicit contributions. by having a contract specifying what can and cannot be done by the employees, it limits some of the harm that might otherwise be inflicted on the organization and the organization's ethics, by the political appointees
glad you asked