We can all go back to work in a hellishly unregulated factory

Apparently it can be if you’re an ‘influencer’ - whatever that is.

And still get paid well and feel like you've accomplished something rather than live by someone else's clock may seem like slacking. That's one of the arguments MAGA is making against people who telework.
When I teleworked, I was always available, but I was able to flex my sit down at a desk or make meetings during a 9 hour workday around from 5am to 5 pm. I could take a break to run an errand or clear my head if I needed it whenever and still put my hours in and produce high quality work. Heck, I could even head down to the office or a worksite on occasion and not feel pressured to play the politics, and I sat "around and waited" a whole lot less when teleworking than I do sitting around the office.
As for "Spending a lot of time on the phone", that's subjective, many people do actual work over their phone - especially if part of one's job is lining up customers, clients, scheduling work, communicating with other project workers and stakeholders, or managing work on a project.
Heck, I can access the Cloud, gather data and build up an metrics analysis chart to brief leadership on a problem while sitting at the lounge at lunch on my phone. That's work ..

Maybe they just see how their boomer and Gen x parents go screwed out of their jobs when they got outsource to china? Hel at leats their parents had UNIONS, which sadly are DEAD.

of manufacturing jobs in the '70s, automation is the leading cause of loss of manufacturing jobs.

There's going to be mass layoffs in the manufacturing sector because of the actions of the crime ring running the country now. This is a trade war we are going to lose on top of that people outside if the United Reich of Amerika are boycotting our stuff as well so exports will dry up. These 3.8 million jobs were predicted if things continued as they were under President Biden.

Very few manufacturing jobs are going to be human centric in the next ten years. Any major industry is going to invest in AI driven automation manufacturing. Why in the world would anyone set themselves up to replaced part way through their career by a fucking robot? The amount of hands on human involvement in manufacturing will be minimal at best in the next ten years, if any of it even makes it to the US.

The plants are leaner and much more efficient. They are increasingly automated. The equipment used can’t be operated by a person with a person barely making it through high school.

While I know this generation prefers greater flexibility and work/life balance than the past, the article should also make it clearer that the jobs will be increasingly limited to those with the required technical skills. It’s still not exactly easy to find skilled CNC operators, or those with experience with robotics programming or PLCs. And unlike say web programming or something similar, it’s hard to be self taught with these skills.

A smarter approach to education would offer these classes at the high school level to those not seeking college. And even private trade schools can be expensive and some are outright scams.