Going to throw a wrench in the whole Blue/White discussion.
I preface this with, I turned a wrench (industrial ET/MT) for 25 yrs. When my body started to break down, I moved to supervision.
Anyways, worked as a blue with the disgust of other blues, because most of it was in a union environment and had to deal with others telling my I made them look bad. I was told "slow down", "quit being involved", "You're not supporting the union by helping the company".
This was the teamsters telling me this... Well you know what? It's about me and my family only. For the most part, not saying all, unions drive complacency. I hate to say it, but that is my perception.
I finally moved to supervision because I was sick of seeing lazy fucks, doing whatever they can to get out of work and continuously file grievances wasting company and union resources.
Just sad, unions weren't ever supposed to turn into what they are today, If they actually had balls enough to hold their members to an expected level of company and union support, they would still be valued, but at this time they are not anything but a pain in my ass.