I wouldn't say first year associates at big firms work for peanuts. In New York, at elite firms, starting salaries for 1st year associates is closing in on 200k

I wouldn't say first year associates at big firms work for peanuts. In New York, at elite firms, starting salaries for 1st year associates is closing in on 200k. It's competitive, of course, they do work long hours under stressful conditions for that pay, and NY is an expensive city. But the question remains - how are tech workers well served by the secrecy around salary? Why should we protect a company from the consequences of informing its workers that one developer makes half of what another makes? Especially if this company is lobbying government to do something about the critical shortage of software developers (and that something, surprise surprise, involves handing massive amount of government sponsored power - the right to decide who is allowed to live and work in the us - over to that company's HR department). First things first, let's get transparency.