Younger workers are less likely to take moral positions on company activities. I worked at a mortgage lead generation site in the 2000's and bought everything management sold. I can't see myself doing anything like that at this stage in my life.
Is that actually the case? When I think of protests, I don't think of the elderly.
Middle aged people get more conservative in part because they learned from their mistakes in their younger years: there often is a good reason for the things done in the past and change can be for the worse as often as for the better - they know how to handle the problems of today and don't want to learn how to handle the new problems.
The elderly have a decline in ability (which they often don't want to admit). They need to be conservative because without their habits they cannot handle life. They also need to trust others to help them do things they no longer can. They thus tend to be too trusting because they have no choice but trust someone without knowing if that someone is trustworthy.
Note that I did not put ages above. People go through things at different stages. People can be taught wisdom to some extent. There are thousands of different things to apply the above too: once you get past about 5 years old you are probably simultaneously in each stage for different things you deal with.
I'd argue that protesting is tied to how easy it's to find a new job which tends to be easier with experience.
Moreover, it seems unintuitive that someone with a mortgage and kids to feed could be more discerning about where their paycheck comes from.
Young workers bring naivety with them. They think they can "make a difference" and have little to risk by pushing back.
The older workers seem to settle into happily getting their tasks done so they can go home and do something they enjoy - hobbies, family, etc.