I think these are great questions, but I'm probably not the best person to answer them. Hopefully someone else here has a better understanding of unions.
But, as far as I can tell this isn't a fight, but it's more like marketing to the public in a way that might be beneficial for future negotiations.
I guess a union's purpose is to protect and benefit it's members.
A example scenario I could imagine (complete fiction) might be Boeing tries to look good to shareholders by laying off several teams, blaming engineers and management of them for the safety issues. This could benefit the company financially.
By preemptively making sure the public is aware that corporate culture is to blame it'd likely make a move like that far harder to enact.
Making it clear that this is the fault of the corporation, not the individuals, keeps the union members safe in this case.
This scenario is likely unrealistic. But maybe someone has a better explanation/historical example?
Personally I didn't read it as having to do with hatred of unions, more just a reminder of political incentives. It's very much in a union's best interest to divert blame from the engineers it represents onto the companies "cost-cutting culture".
It could very well be the truth that the cost-cutting culture is to blame. But it's always worth noting incentives of parties in cases like this.
Are aesthetics the only reason for using a naked domain? Is there any way to get the technical advantage or www. using a naked domain?
(Am I missing anything here?)