[jka]

I'd like to agree with you, because the narrative that employees corral and motivate their employers is an attractive one, and to be encouraged.

Within tech specifically: I do think it's true that software employers shift and change their rhetoric and/or practices to meet the (sometimes entitled) demands of developers.

But some of the issues silicon valley tech firms are relentlessly unwilling to move on are ones around unionization and collective bargaining.

If employees are truly creating the market, and it's the companies that have to work to attract and retain them, then why are employers so fearful of anything except individual bargaining?

For people who are all of: confident, socially mobile (few family/social ties to bind them) and physically in good health you are probably absolutely correct. But I would wager that setting those expectations across entire populations doesn't scale.