This reminds me of the riddle Varys poses Tyrion in "Game of Thrones": Three great men sit in a room, a king, a priest and the rich man. Between them stands a common sellsword. Each great man bids the sellsword kill the other two. Who lives? Who dies?

Replace sellsword with employee. All these employees got screwed, yet like the sellsword they should have had the power to get a better deal.