This vaguely reminds me of the Seattle garbage strike a few years back, where the union played poor and hard done by and being ground down by the city.

So the city took out a bunch of ads saying "Actually, they're extremely highly paid”, and broke down some of the details, and in response got a huge influx of inquiries about employment opportunities. I don't approve generally of scab labor, and I don't believe any was used, but it provided significant leverage in the court of public opinion for the city.