Hear, hear! I agree almost completely, even though my personal work experience has been almost completely different.

There are a few areas like my field, computer programming, where competent workers have consistently been in demand, so management is forced to treat you well.

Does that invalidate what you wrote? Heck, no! In very few other fields do employees have that sort of leverage, and consequently they get brutally exploited. Even mid-range computer programmers, who are more replaceable, get shoddy treatment.

I've seen the most terrible injustices committed on workers for my whole life. That my working life has, with one glaring exception, been collegial and relaxed makes me a lucky guy: it doesn't in the slightest invalidate the miserable and unjust experiences of most American workers.