I think amazon is absolutely facing pressure from word getting out about working conditions. They raised their pay band for a middle level engineer 100k.
You'd think it would be cheaper for them to just improve working conditions.
So much of "working conditions" are habits and culture. Changing those is a lot harder than installing new lighting or safety guards. Worth it? yes, but there is lag time.
It’d also likely require change from the top down - which is never happening. They’d rather pay people more than change their own behavior.
But they don't want to. The working conditions that everyone rags on about there are a feature for them, not a bug.
That's a great point and corroborates other stories I've heard about increasing mid-level pay. It does continue to support the thesis that is (in simplified form) "everybody has a number".