So I thought I may have written an article like this before, but I can't find it, and it might've been a sub point of another article I wrote a long time ago, but I think it's worth noting. I've been criticizing reforming work for a while, and I want to succinctly explain why reforming work will never solve problems.
When you implement reforms to an institution like work, most of them come off as band aids. They do not solve the core relationship between employers and employees, which I see as involuntary since in our society most people are forced to work via propertylessness. The fact that regulations exists seems to imply that the people who made them understand that the relationship between employer and employee isn't necessarily completely voluntary, but the fact is, the regulations are only as good as they are written.
If you impose a minimum wage, you might raise the wages of someone who would otherwise make below a minimum wage, but your employer will still pay the least they can get away with. And minus the current labor shortage driving wages up, many jobs pay very close to the minimum wage. $8-10 an hour has been kind of the norm for much of the past decade. Competition might add $1-3 an hour extra, but as we can tell, they still pay very close to minimum wage.
If you have a job requiring overtime for over 40 hours a week, employers will work you for....40 hours a week. And of course exceptions exist. Managers often work long hours as they're exempt from FLSA. Salaried workers also bypass hourly requirements. And overtime rules might discourage some from working longer hours by force, but others will still make you. You can't say no to your employer if they're willing to pay you more. So if they say you gotta work more you still gotta work more or lose your job.
If you mandate giving full time workers healthcare, many will choose to do what many employers have done and cut many workers in low paying industries to part time. This means people have to work two jobs or more.
Unemployment exists, but only helps those who are let go for good reasons. people who talk back dont get it. People who quit dont get it. Only people let go get it. So people are incentivized to treat their bosses well and do everything they say. We like to act like its voluntary, but if you need that paycheck, it really isn't.
Any regulation might somewhat help labor relations, but it only helps them as much as it is legally enforced. Your employer will never give you an extra inch. Because they own you, and you are best not to forget it. Work reform helps, but it will never fix the core relationship between labor and employers. Not even socialism really fixes it for me, because socialism either means government employer, or I have a democratic vote among many and if I'm outvoted I still have no freedom (ignoring the fact that shadow hierarchies would continue to exist). Only liberating people via the right to say no and UBI is acceptable to me. I dont want more benevolent overlords, and while I certainly believe labor regulations exist, I dont expect them to solve the core issue between labor and capital. Let's face it, I'm still expected to labor for a boss for 40 hours a week, sometimes more, sometimes less, and if less it means more because I will be too poor to live on the job and need to work multiple jobs, and if more, it really shows how limited the regulations are. I'm still expected to follow their orders. I'm still a wage slave. I'm just being treated better. It's like them implementing restrictions on how to treat slaves. Sure maybe I can only be whipped so many times, but it doesn't solve the problem that is slavery. That's my core issue with "work reform." It doesnt actually give me freedom or autonomy over my life. It takes an oppressive institution, cleans it up a little, but still imposes it on me.
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