Unions can fight this alot more effectively than engineers can.
The simple fact is the large companies willingly and with full knowledge of the illegality, abuse their position, even when it comes to software engineers. Pretending you are protected when you can't afford a 6 figure lawsuit, isn't really true.
Similarly, "high performers" aren't immune as they are the ones most affected since the various companies are going to try to recruit them from the others the most.
A union that provides legal representation and a standardized process for appealing various issues that are clearly illegal [e.g. The link I posted] before it goes to court is possible without you having to negotiate specific salary tiers and the like.
It addresses it as a human being discussing the meaning of the article as opposed to a pedant-bot dicing words to 'win'.
I mean, I hate unions with passion, but your post almost makes me like them
The clickbait hero has the superpower to comment on all the clickbaity titles, denouncing the content (of said title) as a wretched hive of scum and villainy!
Such a shame about the fear of long texts and coherent arguments though...