Work is production enforced by economic or political means. But not all creation is work. Even this raw deal is beginning to look good. But modern work has worse implications. One person does one productive task all the time on an or-else basis.
Work makes a mockery of freedom.
The official line is that we all have rights and live in a democracy. But there is more freedom in any moderately de-Stalinized dictatorship than there is in the ordinary American workplace. A worker is a part-time slave. The boss says when to show up, when to leave, and what to do in the meantime. He tells you how much work to do and how fast.