the focus off of what the top execs are getting. When union workers negotiate a good contract, non-union workers ask why the union workers should get better pay/benefits than them. Their question should be: why don’t I have a union too? When workers get a raise, people assume the consumer will pay for that raise when that raise should come from the employers’ outrageous top exec salaries and the company’s profit margin.
There are a lot more of us than there are top execs. If we ever really did stand together for each other, the 1% of top earners wouldn’t stand a chance. They know this, so…hardcore divide & conquer tactics are used. I’m oversimplifying here but I think this is at the heart of employment dynamics in the US.