Hacker News Reader

> companies actually did take care of employees

Was this primarily due to employees having more leverage and demanding it (because union rights were a lot stronger)?

Unions were far stronger yes. And so were communities. The legal changes are minor, compared to the changes from a high-trust society to whatever we are now.

Capital doesn't run things around here, managers do. Think about that.

I'd say its primarily because the original purpose of a corporation wasn't shareholder value at the expense of all other things, like benefiting the community, employee wellbeing. It was supposed to be the responsibility of the employer to take care of loyal employees. The 80s and the age of corporate raiders and activist investors changed that.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com