Should I contact a lawyer before contacting the EEOC to file a discrimination claim against a former employer?

You can try but if the union would not help then they agreed with the employer, based on what you have stated the EEOC won't help you either.

You would have to see exactly what the union promised to deliver for that $35 a month. My guess would be that they have a process for deciding what cases they decide to pursue and which ones they don't. Otherwise, every disgruntled employee would want representation for every perceived slight.

If you have any recourse, it would be some sort of breach of contract, but I doubt that you do.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.