You can get pretty far by creating an impression that you have a mandate for what you're trying to do. Having a higher-level individual contributor position seems to create that impression in itself, at least at my company.
You do have leverage though, that's a point that this article makes. It costs time and money to onboard people. Also you can unionize, and acquire even more leverage
You're making a pretty strong claim and just assert it to be "the fact of the matter", reminiscent of an opinion column from a newspaper
What evidence do you have to believe this?
All employment is “at will” in Tech, you can be fired for any reason. The only thing preventing you from being fired is your capacity to create value for the company (as seen in the company’s eyes)
Unless you’re truly irreplaceable, you don’t have much leverage by default.
Wrong. The reason cannot be discriminatory
An important distinction to make, one that can cost a great deal if not made
Except in the US there are about 100 ways employers can still fire you even if the underlying reason is discriminatory.
They just can’t expose the real reason in writing and they make up other reasons (or no reason at all).
Edit: and just to be perfectly clear, I don’t applaud companies who discriminate (I myself am a minority frequently discriminated against). Just pointing out the unfortunate reality that non-discrimination laws are extremely weak and ineffective in the US when it comes to hiring/firing.