I'm not talking about executives. I'm talking about rank-and-file office workers who have nobody reporting to them. Now, while there are probably some individual office workers treated worse than individual warehouse employees, the contrast is stark. Like, I work at the office of a factory. I don't have anybody under me, but the difference between how I'm treated and how they're treated is so stark. Hell, they're even union guys and I'm not.
Is there some obscure theory thing explaining this?
The more bullshit of a job you have, the more likely you aren't doing anything contributing to anything. Sure, you might move numbers from one excel sheet or answer some client's phone call who has some type of special need with their product, but you do not need to sit on your ass 9 hours a day while having bullshit meetings in between. If manual laborers strike, you will see real material results from the lack of work being done. Once an office worker strikes you will see results but you won't see any difference from the highest of high levels if a CEO goes on strike. Office workers who do real work get treated like shit too though, tons of call center and low level IT jobs are complete ass despite being vital.