Every non-government job (government jobs will be addressed in another blog) in the world was created by the sweat, blood, and brains of someone who saw an opportunity to provide a good or service, and then was either successful enough or large enough at the onset, to require help. That “help” is what is called a job. That entrepreneur created, and thus owns that job. It is his to give to the person he sees fit to best accomplish the goals that he decides that position requires.
I will skip, for this blog, the part about government intervention in that decision making process, but let me make this part clear. The owners of the company, or in their proxy, the management of the company, make the decisions on who works for the company, who gets paid how much, and who gets promoted. Those decisions, combined with the overall business plan, and of course, the market, determines if the company succeeds or fails. You may have philosophical disagreements with this, but that does not make it less true (again skipping the government intervention aspects).
It is the responsibility of each and every person to make themselves needed by the company they want to or currently work for. The smart people try to accumulate additional skills to sell to their current or future employer at a greater cost. The employer, current or future, makes a decision based on need and if paying that extra cost will be covered by the extra benefit those employee skills bring.
It is not the responsibility of the company to give you a raise, because a calendar page has flipped. Nor should you be promoted to the next supervisor position because you are the most senior man. That said, most companies still go above and beyond this level by giving their employees additional benefits in the form of annual raises, vacation time, sick time, personal time, and holidays off. (Spare me the part about those being completely union-derived. Only 6% of the private sector is unionized. If business did not feel they needed to pay these benefits, they would be phasing them out)