Amazon has secured themselves as titans of retail because they intentionally undercut their own profit to make them more competitive with big box retailers. Personally I have an issue with how they overwork their employees, but the point is that undercutting short profit to invest in your model is a viable business strategy. Having a loyal work force with minimal turnover is an incredible business advantage, and investing in your work force is just as vital as any portion of a business model.
Adding to that is the moral implication. If I were to move elsewhere to work for a factory/firm/upscale prostitution ring, I'm making a commitment to that company, I'm making myself more economically vulnerable for the promise of a reliable job. Treating that as disposable, treating a person's livelihood as meaningless is intensely immoral, and frankly treacherous. Like I've said, there are instances where cuts are necessary to sustain a business, but if you're just trimming the fat for the sake of bigger dividends, that's a son of a bitch thing to do. More so, if you hire a person at what you can afford, and they're there through the lean times, they deserve to be rewarded for their loyalty. As the company starts making gains.
On the Macro scale we've seen a despicable level of wealth disparity in this country, and that's where this "struggling small business owner" comparison fails, companies that make huge profits are acting unethically by failing to consistently compensate the people who are actually producing the product or service that are making these people obscenely rich.
They're acting unethically if they fail to treat workers equitably, if they can. That's just a statement of fact. Murder is bad, you shouldn't fuck your sister, pay your employees fairly.
I don't assume malice. I assume poor intent leading to poor results. Killing the golden goose for the egg. I actually left my last job, because their under staffed maintenance department was making me work a rotating shift schedule that was incredibly dangerous. I worked 7am-7pm 3 days straight, had two days off, and then worked 7pm to 7am for 3 days straight. I quit because there were days where I started losing time on my commute. I would get home without any memory of most of the drive back. So I politely left the factory on good terms. I'm not any kind of victim. I'm going to do fine. I might or might not start a business, depending on a dozen different factors. The best business owners don't just start a business without a very solid plan in place, it's not the kind of thing you should half ass. Of course every dumb asshole who's run a business into the ground has experience as a business owner. So they're sages in your mind.