I was a Union carpenter for a few years in my younger days so I have dealt with this a few times already
the difference is back then I was single with no kid. There is more at stake now.
Your line of work may not be conducive for this, but after my last employer closed a whole division and sent me packing I hung my own shingle and called all of the clients I'd been working for. Self-employment overhead is dirt cheap and people who were paying my old employer $200/hr now get the same quality for half that and I work part time from home.
The thing about being your own boss is that the boss is with you 24/7. And, you only eat what you kill. But if you love what you do and you can carve out a niche for yourself, you will never really "work" at all. I have great months and I have horrible, bad, not-very-good months. But I've been on my own since October 2012 and I ain't broke yet.