You think most salary jobs aren't giving you specific working hours these days, which generally span 9 hours a day but pay you based on 40 hours a week?

Unions have been attempted more times than they’ve succeeded

I get what you mean, but I can't resist the urge to point out that that's basically a truism. The number of successes must be greater or equal than the number of attempts by definition, since a success without an attempt is not possible.

France goes even harder saying you aren't even allowed to eat at your desk

But then you phone them at 14:00 and they've already left

Thats also in germany

That's why they make it 9-5:30

It keeps eroding away. I've had skilled jobs where the expectation was 8-5 without any breaks at all. "If you need to eat, you can do it at your desk while you're working."

I still think it's a good rule. Sitting on your ass for 8 hours straight isn't healthy, so no matter the motivation it has positive consequences.