Thank you so much for making the important point that the role and effect of labor unions differs among countries. Your point is also timely given the recent protests in France over the raising of the retirement age.

I wrote from an American perspective and have often read with envy about those fat benefits that accrue to many workers in countries like France and Germany. All those mandatory weeks of paid vacations when here you may have no paid vacations at all until you’ve worked for a company for a certain amount of time, and then only two weeks!

But you so right that there’s a cost for those. Much appreciate the deeper context you’ve provided.