Would a union have changed anything for Twitter?

Unions set their own goals, and then try to achieve those goals through negotiation with management.

So if unions had sought certain changes, and successfully negotiated for them, yes.

Also, unions often have to accept undesired outcomes in exchange for what they do achieve. That’s why it’s called negotiation.

How layoffs are conducted is usually a big part of negotiation.

But layoffs often happen under bad circumstances for both unions and management.

A buyout such as this is one of those “oh shit” situations that can have unpredictable results.

Some things would be different, but it’s unknowable what.

If anything, they probably would have worked even less.