Desk top flier
The industrial revolution that transformed England from a largely agricultural society existed from the mid 1700's to the mid 1800's. I grant you the protection afforded by unions might have been needed then. Of great concern was workplace injury, pay and work hours. Those and other concerns are now heavily regulated(at least here) by the government That level of power held by labor (labour if you can't read American) now is a deterent to good business. I don't hold the US out as the gold standard, but I do think the pendulam has swung in Europe to the far side of some medium.
I do not feel exploited, I have ample time off. I have all the accouterments of an upper middle income. I do not want for anything I don't already have. If I was to die today, my after action report would find a happy balance of work, play and most important family. All that from the US model.