Nearly every wrongful termination suit I've seen has been settled out of court in some capacity. Whether its job back or severance package. Unless the company has lawyers on staff (already paid) its cheaper to settle. "beans" rule to bean counters.
As a side note, unions have their place in situations like this (I'm in one, BTW). But they also seem to cause as many problems with regards to making it nearly impossible to get rid of the problem children and encourages the tendency to get entrenched in the mentality of "it ain't in the contract", reducing flexibility of employers to react quickly and stay competitive. There has to be a middle ground.
Best of luck.