The history of the US labor movement is not a history of American workers struggling hand in hand with the government against large employers like Peabody, GM, and Pullman. Rather, it is a history of American workers struggling against large employers who were backed by the government: police, imprisonment, and in some cases even military actions were used against strikers. The Post Office helped out Pullman by putting a mail parcel on each Pullman car so that striking would become a federal crime.

American workers gained workplace protections through unions and the threat of a communist revolution, which forced the government to relinquish the use of its coercive powers against strikers. Only later did (limited) workplace protections become law.

When I lived in the US, I thought like you do. Now I've seen the other side of the coin.