re: So it's all the employees' fault?
"Every place I've ever worked I've been told, either one-on-one or with a group of my fellow workers, "It's nobody's business how much you earn." The threat has been implied, but unmistakeable. Of course, there is no legal way they could enforce that, but the implication has always been perfectly clear that they would make your life miserable if you "blabbed"."
So, they all say something along the lines of "It's nobody's business how much you earn."
And they don't explain why they say this, and nobody dares question this demand?