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Would working in-house for a union 1L summer raise red flags for Labor & Employment BigLaw (i.e. management side firms)?

My initial inkling is no, but just wanted to see if anyone had any advice.

Definitely you would be asked about. Union people tend to be passionate about their cause (why else would you take a massive paycut doing something similar to what private firms are doing). So the big law firm would assume you share some of the passion, or lack thereof for big firms, who tend to sit on the other side of a lawsuit. It's a tough one. Perhaps something along the line of "you understand the importance of both sides in solving a dispute." But that might make you susceptible to question like "why don't you clerk?"

Where you go to school and your grades will matter a hell of a lot more than the fact you worked for a union over the summer.

Also, not a ton of L&E Groups do a ton of traditional labor work (or at least aren't hiring a ton of people for traditional labor). Most of it is FLSA, Title VII, ERISA, etc.