(55) For it is to Me that the Israelites are servants: they are My servants, whom I freed from the land of Egypt—I, your God יהוה.
Ramban (Nachmanides) on Deut. 24:15
For he is poor-- like the majority of hired laborers-- and he depends on the wages to buy food by which to live... if he does not collect the wages right away as he is leaving work, he will go home, and his wages will remain with you until the morning, and he will die of hunger that night.
Babylonian Talmud, Bava Metzia 10a
A worker may back out of [his work commitment] even in the middle of the [work] day,... for it is written [in Scripture] "For unto Me the children of Israel are servants; they are My servants" and not servants of servants.
רבה בר בר חנן תברו ליה הנהו שקולאי חביתא דחמרא שקל לגלימייהו אתו אמרו לרב אמר ליה הב להו גלימייהו אמר ליה דינא הכי אמר ליה אין (משלי ב, כ) למען תלך בדרך טובים יהיב להו גלימייהו אמרו ליה עניי אנן וטרחינן כולה יומא וכפינן ולית לן מידי אמר ליה זיל הב אגרייהו א"ל דינא הכי אמר ליה אין (משלי ב, כ) וארחות צדיקים תשמור
Babylonian Talmud, Bava Metzia 83a
The Gemara relates an incident involving Rabba bar bar Ḥanan: Certain porters broke his barrel of wine after he had hired them to transport the barrels. He took their cloaks as payment for the lost wine. They came and told Rav. Rav said to Rabba bar bar Ḥanan: Give them their cloaks. Rabba bar bar Ḥanan said to him: Is this the halakha? Rav said to him: Yes, as it is written: “That you may walk in the way of good men” (Proverbs 2:20). Rabba bar bar Ḥanan gave them their cloaks. The porters said to Rav: We are poor people and we toiled all day and we are hungry and we have nothing. Rav said to Rabba bar bar Ḥanan: Go and give them their wages. Rabba bar bar Ḥanan said to him: Is this the halakha? Rav said to him: Yes, as it is written: “And keep the paths of the righteous” (Proverbs 2:20).
Tosefta Bava Metzia 11:24-26
The wool workers and the dyers are permitted to say, "We will all be partners in any business that comes to the city."
The bakers are permitted to establish work shifts amongst themselves. Donkey drivers are permitted to say, "We will provide another donkey for anyone whose donkey dies." If it dies through negligence, they do not need to provide a new one; if not through negligence, they do need to provide him with another donkey. And if he says, "Give me the money, and I will purchase one myself," they should not listen to him, but should buy a donkey and give it to him.
Merchants are permitted to say, "We will provide another ship for anyone whose ship is destroyed." If it is destroyed through negligence, they do not need to provide another one; if it is not destroyed through negligence, they do need to provide another. And if he departs for a place to which people do not go, they do not need to provide him with another ship.
Rabbi Ben-Zion Meir Chai Uzziel, 1938 (Rishon le-Tziyon - Sephardic Chief Rabbi of the Land of Israel, 1880-1953) in Aryeh Cohen, Justice in the City, 124
Reason also dictates that we should not leave the worker alone, isolated as an individual, so that he would have to hire himself out for minimal wages in order to satisfy his and his family's hunger with bread and water in meager quantities and with a dark and dank apartment. In order to protect himself the law gave him the legal right to organize, and to create regulations for his fellows for the fair and equitable division of labor amongst them and the attaining of dignified treatment and appropriate payment for his work-- so that he might support his family at the same standard of living as other residents of his city.
Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, quoted in Tzvi Yaron, Mishnato shel HaRav Kook (Jerusalem: Moreshet Press, 1986), 164 in Rabbi Jill Jacobs, There Shall Be No Needy, 128
Within the workers' organization, which is formed for the purpose of guarding and protecting the work conditions, there is an aspect of righteousness and uprightness and tikkun olam... Unorganized labor brings damage and loss of money to workers. For the unorganized worker works under worse conditions--both in regard to wages and in regard to working hours, etc. And this is likely to make working conditions worse in general.
Rabbi Jill Jacobs, There Shall Be No Needy, 131
If we do consider the command to remember our slavery in Egypt and other admonitions to remember as general statements of the obligatory nature of history, we might argue that our early experience of low-wage work, combined with the relief brought about through labor unions, compels us to support unions, even once we have taken on more managerial positions. The lessons of labor history challenge Jewish union leaders to ensure that today's unions, like the early unions, are focused on creating a workplace that protects the interests of both employee and employer.