Most of the labor discourse I see in Reddit threads is around higher wages. While it's true that certain sectors are woefully under paid, and require across the board increases (service, nursing, teaching, etc)… I would argue that for most workers the tail that's wagging the dog here are simple costs and in tandem with those costs, work related freedoms.
I don't think it's possible for people on what would be considered a middle class wage to 'do everything right' and set themselves and/or their family up for success anymore. You really can't build wealth, save for retirement, cover health emergencies, contribute to a college fund, save for even reasonable used cars (etc), no matter how much coffee you make at home. The truth of the matter is we are most of us, one health emergency away from bankruptcy, even with insurance. Certain consumer goods are really cheap now which is fine, but the things we need, those are draining our incomes substantially. A home is a way for you achieve economic stability, health care is a way to…well stay healthy (but in economic terms, productive), a family is a way for some/most to self actualize (and for the economy…keep society going, add to the labor force/brain tree), education is a way to level up your productivity and earning potential. We all know this!
We also know that all of the above is extremely FUBAR in its relationship to us and the broader economy. Healthcare is rationed and we are economically punished for using it. It keeps us from leaving jobs, starting businesses. It's just one example of a broken socio-economic compact, and the list goes on. Housing, clearly broken. Education, broken and even predatory at times. Childcare, completely broken and actually a literal stepped-on-a-rake self-own for economic society. You have skilled women and sometimes men leaving the workforce over childcare costs…who benefits there? Literally no-one. We should be rewarded for adding value society generally and protected from harms outside our control. Then if we could actually level up our careers and not worry about ever rising costs of healthcare and housing, we could afford things like greater retirement savings (what a luxury!).
These and other things have created a general sense of despair among working age people. It's leading to an unstable system, and very few parties are benefiting. Currently I think large businesses and certain industries that are leaching off the broken system benefit, but in the long run it's not good for the USA and even those upper middle class, and upper class people live here and rely on our success. This general sense of despair is not bound by political party or even class. Even in sectors that are well paid, people often feel over worked and stressed basically all the time. They have to credentialize every aspect of their lives…the right schools, the right scores, always on call. People blame different things but the general discomfort is the same. We see the instability everywhere, it's how you go from Obama, to Trump, to Biden. Congress refuses to act, regulation is captured. People stay generally pissed off, all the time!
Some people here are truly anti capitalist and those ideas are worth discussing. However if you're interested in reforms we can act upon without massive upheaval I would argue that we could make a case for cost control and an argument for basic freedom. The Right in the USA has more of a freedumb angle…but I think a progressively minded person could make a persuasive argument to those people that freedom also means not living with a boot on your neck. The boot in this case being the simple cost of living. Freedom to me means choosing where to live, what career, and how much education I really need. I'm an elder millennial, and we were the generation that was taught to 'find our passions'. I definitely did that, and while I love my work…I feel the despair. Think about how you would feel if you no longer needed to change health care plans every year, or worry about rent spikes? What would you do with that money? Spending less on non-negotiable requirements means more in your pocket, and you get to choose what you do with that. Additionally, it's non-inflationary when costs decrease. These are not pie-in-the-sky ideas and we need to be smart about what we're asking for.