IT workers have been screwed before

flagamuffin mentioned this screwing to me in personal correspondence. I enjoyed composing my reply:

The Silicon Valley Wage-Fixing Thing, I love it, let's make some protest signs with that. This is the injustice, not Deepwater Horizon? Not mercenary contractors or blood diamonds?

Before we go to the march, let's work out our talking points so we will be ready for the cameras. In The Silicon Valley Wage-Fixing Thing, who were the victims? Well, they were pretty much the most richly-compensated category of employees outside of Wall Street. And perhaps not all of them, but especially the most talented among them, those who are the best candidates for corporate poaching, the cream of the crop.

And what privation did the injured class suffer at the hands of the corporate juggernauts? The crime was an unenforceable handshake agreement to not directly make job offers to employees on the other side of the valley. Which forced the employees (forced them, that's key, that's coercion!) to take the humiliating step of visiting the careers page of the competition's web site and apply for a job, as if they were regular wage slaves like the rest of us and not a privileged elite. Only after initiating contact could they claim their rightful hiring bonus and fat raise with stock options.