I was talking to a young friend at the weekend who is working at a mind-numbing job for our (recently-established) minimum wage. In order to get this job he'd had to sign a form waiving his (recently established)right to a maximum working week of, I think, 40 hours. True, nobody twisted his arm to make him sign it, but there was not much option. we still need unions, and I think the unions are missing out by not bringing in the unemployed in some way.