Why Corporate America Needs to Listen to Workers’ Voices

When Companies Raise Pay Without Empowering Employees, Morale and Democracy Both Suffer

Like many frontline workers across the country, Denise Kohr saw her pay at Amazon increase over the past year; as for her say, not so much.

“They don’t want to hear from me,” complained Kohr, who has picked and packed products at a fulfillment center in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, since 2018.

Kohr—who after a 25-cent bump last fall, along with a shift change that boosted her wage, now makes $22.95 an hour—still wishes she earned more money. But her bigger frustration is this: Whenever she makes a suggestion about how work should get …