It would likely look the same as everywhere else, nobody else gets yearly raises just because of inflation. If people want a raise, they need to step up and earn it. It’s not like the employer is magically always getting more profit when there is inflation either. An employer who doesn’t give loyalty to an employee, doesn’t deserve it in return, simple as that.
Now, I agree that without unions some employers would treat their employees poorly and not compensate them well. I get it, my dad was in the local teachers union for 35 years. They got good pay and benefits as a group, not something you are always going to get otherswise. The downside, from his point of view, was the politics of the union, which had a knack for getting in the way of getting some things done. In the school district, for example, there were several unions, one for teachers, another for support staff, and another for the tradesmen working for the school board, another for the cleaning staff. Heaven help them if one union needed something and other wasn’t around to do it. Door has an issue? Wait 4-6 months to fix it, or fix it when nobody is around and risk getting reprimand?
Other times it was politically driven union issues as well, since the union members were all government employees.