A couple factual problems with this: first, the employees that have access to this sort of data are in white collar roles, and are hardly being paid "absolute bare minimum." Second, when Amazon interviews employees, we ask about our Leadership Principles (https://www.amazon.jobs/principles), one of which actually is that leaders "Earn Trust." Trust is absolutely something we look for in employees.
- We ask candidates about times that they earned trust, behaved in a trust-worthy manner in the past. - Employees in their reviews are judged in part based on how well they earn the trust of their peers, managers, etc. - Promotions happen based on demonstrating the Leadership Principles, including earning trust.
I can't speak to whether every pocket at Amazon has implemented it the way it's supposed to, nor can I say that every employee at Amazon excels at this. I would hope though that someone who reads a statement like "Sounds like Amazon is finding out the hard way that you need to pay for trust, not just skill" understands that this is something that has been explicitly understood within Amazon for years.