# Resolved: US labor law needs reform **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 14, 2012, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-us-labor-law-needs-reform/644013 "2012-12-14T09:58:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2012, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-us-labor-law-needs-reform/644013/21 "2012-12-18T14:44:01Z")
> [@Human\_Action](#): > > Certainly. I history has shown that the best way to get there is via a free market. To get _where_? Reasonable working conditions? You must be joking. As I said in the other thread, I’m agnostic on unions _today_, but to suggest we’d have occupational health and safety standards, the 40-hour work week, a living wage, or any of the things that make our working lives tolerable is _absurd_. We got them from unions. ---
**Author:** ![Human\_Action](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@Human\_Action](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Human_Action)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2012, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-us-labor-law-needs-reform/644013/22 "2012-12-18T15:01:29Z")
> [@Really Not All That Bright](#): > > To get _where_? Reasonable working conditions? You must be joking. As I said in the other thread, I’m agnostic on unions today, but to suggest we’d have occupational health and safety standards, the 40-hour work week, a living wage, or any of the things that make our working lives tolerable is absurd. We got them from unions. To get to what **aruvqan** pined for: > [@aruvqan](#): > > In a perfect world housing would be adequate, and affordable, food would be affordable, wages would be livable, employers would listen to employee issues and resolve them peacefully. The best way to achieve these things is free-market capitalism. Unions are welcome to be part of it. I have no doubt that my great-grandchildren will regard the 8-hour workday and the 40-hour work week as horrible exploitation. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2012, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-us-labor-law-needs-reform/644013/23 "2012-12-18T15:09:13Z")
Hardly. It has, as you referenced in your own OP, been around since 1937. Since the number of exempt workers has exploded, it’s hardly likely to be modified downward. ---
**Author:** ![Human\_Action](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@Human\_Action](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Human_Action)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2012, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-us-labor-law-needs-reform/644013/24 "2012-12-18T15:48:27Z")
> [@Really Not All That Bright](#): > > Hardly. It has, as you referenced in your own OP, been around since 1937. Since the number of exempt workers has exploded, it’s hardly likely to be modified downward. If Americans are working 20-hour weeks in 2092, I’ll come back here and crow about my prognosticating abilities. Until then, we’ll just have to wait and see what technological innovations and increases in worker productivity bring us. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2012, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-us-labor-law-needs-reform/644013/25 "2012-12-18T17:43:02Z")
I’ll hold you to that. 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-us-labor-law-needs-reform/644013.md?page=1)