Who determines what workers "should" have by default? Once that moral determination is made, who makes sure it actually happens?

Nothing in the world happens without power. A union is a way to get some. "Should" doesn't mean anything without it.

The government will never be as in tune with the needs of the workers as the workers themselves.

I think organized labor is a very good idea. We can see in the US how workers have been put in ever more precarious situations since the labor unions were significantly weakened 30-40 years ago.

But actually I don’t think having a normal corporation with a board of directors and then a union at odds with that board really makes sense. To me, worker owned cooperatives make a lot of sense.

I am coming to appreciate that there is however no one size fits all solution. So I look at this like “more of X would help Y”. And I do think more organized labor as unions or coops would help workers (in the USA where this is an issue). In the USA workers generally need better health care, maternity and paternity leave, predictable working hours and better pay.

I did however recently learn that in Germany apparently the big companies have representatives from labor in the board, and then they have another board that supervises them which is half labor. I’m fuzzy on the details but it was described in the linked lecture below which is pretty good!

https://youtu.be/8iHeh0iRykw

I think worker-owned cooperatives do make a ton of sense and bridge the interest gap between employers and employees. When the interests of the unions align with the interest of society at large in that we want to promote productivity, it fixes a lot of things.

Agreed. Germany has kept so many factories (it would seem) because labor doesn’t want to offshore their own jobs, even if management is indifferent.

I think you might be interested in what Richard Wolff has to say.

I’ve met him! He signed my copy of Democracy at Work. So yes you’re right! :)

Damn, lucky you! Anyways, I'm glad my prediction was accurate :)

Who supports these pro-worker politicians and holds them accountable? In the US, both parties are very cozy with corporate interests, because that's where the money (and thus ability to mobilize voters) is. Historically, unions played a major role in holding politicians accountable, and supporting those who were more pro-worker. The parties have become more corporatized as union membership has declined. Without the base of support from organized labor, this is a likely outcome.

The average person doesn't have any power over their government. You know who does? Their employers. Given this power imbalance, who exactly do you expect the government to "represent"?

Some workers are happy about some of the things unions championed. Like 5 day work weeks.