I'm an engineering student, former technician, currently taking a course in organizational leadership. And comparing the contents of that course puts, well, a perspective on things. First off, I live in Sweden, so compared to most people here I am incredibly well off. In Sweden, working more than a total of 48 hours a week is illegal within most unions, and overtime caps range from 100-300 hours PER YEAR, anything above that comes at extreme penalties. Vacation time is usually 25 days, translating to five weeks. Unions did this to us.
Reading this sub really puts perspective on these things, and what can happens if companies are too free to do as they please. There's no minimum wage in Sweden, but unions and their umbrella organizations negotiate salaries and benefit terms yearly. The system works decently well, almost no salaried positions are even close to welfare levels, and positions offering too little simply don't get filled. Unions did this, it is very possible.
At the same time, the organizational leadership course is… interesting, talking about people in general, and specifically workers, in terms that really makes me think of this sub. I'm also worried about my fellow students, most of them have no factory floor-like experience at all, and likely never will. I'm doing what I can to share that perspective with them, and this sub really helps with examples and perspectives. Thank you guys for sharing!