The airlines did that because people shop on trip price, not amenity. Consumers need to shop for what they want. If the consumer shops by cheapest price (and doesn't care if the price includes bags, or seat selection), then they should be prepared to pay extra for those things. The European airlines seem to have this down to a fine art. They charge for bags, seat selection, etc.

O'Leary at Ryanair wanted to charge for toilets. Thank gosh he got a lot of pushback on that.

As far as workers go, we need people to work for society to function. So we need the government to lay off the "Every good and service is a human right" concept, which gives people an option not to work for a living. We can't pay people's rent, health care, and food and still expect them to go to work.