That's not what regulation is about. Regulation is to ensure that your business is providing a safe working environment, where employees can work, without being a burden on the taxpayers. And to give workers a framework of rights so they're not being exploited in the relationship. Nobodys telling you how to run your business or what to pay your vendors, or price your products, but yes, your relationship with your employees needs to be regulated.
Workers have little to no power in the relationship. All power rests with the employer, and abuses abound. The USA still doesn't have mandated vacations for employees, no maternity leave, and no job security for pregnant women. One executive I know was an accountant for a firm in the middle of a merger. As negotiations were proceeding, the accountant received word that his father was dying and had only a few days at most, left. The employer refused to give him time off to go to his father's bedside. As his wife told me, "There's a recession. I've lost my job. If he loses his, we have nothing". There are always more low wage workers than jobs, so employees consistently use market techniques for wages, instead of paying reasonable remuneration. The larger the company, the more disconnected management and labour are, the less likely the employees are to get a good shake.
Every time I watch "Under Cover Boss", the Boss is shocked that so many of these excellent employees are struggling to provide for their families, care for sick relatives, or to get an education to better their lives, and at the end of every show, these hard-working and dedicated employees are rewarded with things to make their lives better, including cash, cars, and scholarships. There are literally millions of hard-working employees barely getting by because wages have been stagnant and losing buying power for years.
American productivity has grown and the workers saw none of the rewards for that. Conservatives said it was because the increases in productivity were due to automation and workers didn't deserve a raise. Without government regultion, how do we protect non-unionized workers from being bullied into accepting crumbs and bad treatment?
