The problem with unions

I generally have a lot of time for unions. They act as a brake when unscrupulous employers attempt to take advantage of their workers and can be very helpful as someone to turn to for a worker in trouble. Having said that, the fact that will still need unions in 2013 is very sad indeed as all employers should be treating their people properly.
I have to confess to not having had an awful lot to do with unions in the course of my working life as I have generally worked for companies who have treated their people in exemplary fashion and who have been supportive to their people when they have been in trouble. I did interact with the TGU during my time at SSP and generally found them to be both pragmatic and realistic and able to take a balanced view of a situation.
Having said all of the above the Unite unions stance in the Grangemouth dispute baffles me, in fact it reminds me of the stance of unions during the time of British Leyland where they (and others) played a part in the destruction of home grown car manufacturing in the UK. If seems obvious to me that if a plant is losing £10 million a month something has to give as there is no way in which a business will allow that situation to continue. If we accept that this is the case then going into negotiations on the back of a strike and with a position which is effectively that they will make no concession regardless of the economic realities faced by the plant does their members a huge disservice.
I can only hope for e sake of the whole community that a solution can be found.