The penalty isn't the main good thing coming from it - it's the fact that now the system is deemed illegal unions/workers councils and local inspectors can easily go after it on a local level. This is actually far more powerful than one might think, as the local government inspectors are the ones that can really put the pressure on the companies. (E.g. Amazon got ordered to shut down part of a main distribution center due to insufficient workers protection once - that really really hurts them as the lost profit is worth more than the penalties)
The francogermanophone system works slightly differently here, that's why it's often "disappointing" from lay persons POV, but it works - just not by extremly high penalties.(These come from the fact that we don't really know class action law suits - there are some new ways for them, but generally it's not an often used instrument )