There's definitely a union advantage. I'm glad your son is enjoying that. My kids have both also had union jobs and definitely experienced much better conditions when they worked in those environments.
With respect to fines, I have no problem with them being higher at all. When we use unions and do something that an employer does not think is right, it doesn't take long for the employer to take us to whichever labour board it may be—provincial or federal—and the threats of fines are significant. You may recall we had a significant job action in Ontario with education workers and with Premier Ford. I think it was about a billion dollars that we were going to be fined in the first week.
I think stronger fines against employers would be very helpful in levelling the playing field.