Man this was the case even 20 years ago when I worked my ass off but got denied a 10 cent raise so they'd have an excuse to hire outside for the electronics department even though the supervisor loved my guts. When it happened twice in a row a year apart, I complained thru the confidential corporate hotline and they just dumped my complaint in the lap of the general manager... who was the problem. According to him I didn't "have customer skills" even though my position literally involved sending customers to the red shirt employees so I could get back to heavy physical labour, and I'd always help if was quick or everyone was busy. Oh and the reason no one told me anything and I found out by being introduced to the new hires was he "thought the supervisor was going to give me the bad news and she thought [he] was." By the second time I was denied even though the supervisor told me she didn't see why I wouldn't get the transfer, I was trained as a cashier and working maybe a quarter of my shifts on cash for more hours. The second external hire turned out to be my girlfriend's cousin who knew absolutely nothing of electronics. He would constantly page me for help and it would take two of us to do one person's job... When I handed in my two weeks everyone was sad to see me go, except the GM. The POS didn't say a single word to me or even make eye contact. He was celebrated as a "great manager" and got to stay in my city despite company polictly being that they transfer managers to other stores every 3 to 5 years...
Doesn't seem that much of a big deal but having that on my resume would've gone a long way... I couldn't even get an IT or computer/electronics store job after getting a tech support & network admin diploma. All I got was telephone customer service for cameras (which Nikon sent to the Dominican Republic to save money and even followed thru with it after having a bunch of credit card numbers stolen from the repair service calls) and then a taste of T-Mobile which I turned down. I then went on to work in a bunch of kitchens and get a lot of cooking and eventually supervisor experience, then went back to retail, then fast food, then UberEats, then like a lot of us last December all of a sudden I went from making $20 to $40CAD per hour to $4 or less per hour, while I watched orders just sit in places for other drivers to come and get 5 or 10 minutes after I'd just hang out watching it get cold.
Nothing wrong with our accounts too, support would say... They pulled this exact same shit April 2022, soft deactivated walkers and screwed over bicyclists (after pushing people to buy ebikes...) and even some drivers. Seems like they punish drivers who understand the system and only accept quick trips or ones with tips (after they started showing tips before you accept). They push a new feature or method of transportation, then punish their contractors for it...
I was in a job for a decade that functioned that way, run by a son of a bitch from the East Coast (we were based in the Midwest) who kept cutting benefits and staff and using the company like an ATM. We named him "Hatchet" Hooley.
Luckily I got out and found a much better job, but I still agitate for people stuck in shit jobs.