Would a union rep have a lot of experience with intellectual property agreements and their legal consequences?

I would have guessed that most union reps consult lawyers when they finalize a contract and don't have the law background needed.

They have plenty of lawyers, highly specialised. And if you go to an IT-related union they are very used to dealing with IP issues.

In Denmark there are two unions for IT workers: One for engineers and one for IT workers. Both of this have experience with intellectual property agreements and both gives some free help (like looking over contracts) with the hope that you will sign up for the "premium" membership.

I think the best way to describe danish unions are that they are a mix of us unions (that i don't know that much about) and law firms for worker.