Yes we all long for the good ole days when employee and employer would come together and negotiate a wage.......the mines, the meat packing houses, the textile mills, the domestic servants for two dollars a day....ah for the days of unrestricted capitalism....
Too many people are applauding instead of recognizing the sarcasm.
If I find someone willing to be my domestic servant for $2/day, how do you have any say in that contract?
Likewise, what business is it of mine how much you choose to pay your servant? But out of curiosity, how much would you pay?
I think you made a wrong turn on your way to DU.
Nobody had to work. Or more exactly, nobody was required to take a job with any company.
But if there were a lot more workers available than jobs, and those workers were willing to work for slave wages, then of course we want government to protect them from their own stupidity, right? "No, you can't possibly really WANT to work for $5.15 an hour, even if you are happily doing so now, so we'll make sure you get more money than you are worth."