If they treat their employees well they have nothing to fear.
No it's not, the relationship between the company itself and the employees is fundamentally hostile, the desires of the shareholders will, also, expand to fill up all of space-time if you let them. I'm not saying this out "everybody can be friends :D", just that each one keeps the other in check.
Also, a lot of the NYT is already unionized and the apocalypse you speak of hasn't happened.
So again, if they treat their employees well they have nothing to fear.
It's a function of detachment from reality, not a function of compensation or material comfort. You can make $1mm a year, earning the company practically nothing, and have a story in head where you're being cheated out of what is rightfully yours.
_Anyone_ who thinks they can get away with entitled behavior can build up a narrative in their head where they are denied benefits and even higher compensation they deserve.