That stuff is so wild to me. Here in Germany you don't just have the unions that represent you as a worker in a general gield of work, but there are also "Betriebsräte" (worker councils) in most large companies that are made up of employees representing the employee's interests in front of the company leadership. They are not HR, because they are not totally aligned with the leadership's interests. They are not unions, because they are more specialized.

From personal experience, working conditions in a company with worker councils or many unionized workers are IMMENSELY better than in companies without such institutions.

Worker's councils are even somewhat in the interest of a company owner, as happy employees and a good working environment are drivers of productivity and are otherwise hard to implement.

Which is a totally acceptable point of view. He's even said he won't make any moves to stop them from unionizing.

Now, whether you believe him or not is up to you, but I don't think anything he's said on the topic is ethically wrong.

TBH, that's a fair assessment... In an ideal world they shouldn't be needed. We don't live in one.

The problem comes in where bosses either from the start or over time lose touch and stop listening to their workers. Her posts clearly show why they are needed.

Really should be the opposite. "If I start a company and it's so successful that the employees believe in the company enough to want to engage further in how labor is managed and compensated, so that they are able to lead better lives, I have succeeded as a boss."*

I would make for a shitty executive.

*Predicated upon the idea that the boss is attempting to lead benevolently.