Personally I really like ADM's analogy. A bit of an extreme case, but a nice analogy nonetheless!
Morality in any corporate situation is far from being at the forefront of the minds of senior management. Meeting targets, keeping their shareholders/bosses happy and as a result keeping and being good at their job is the primary concern. It just depends how far down the rest of the list "employee welfare" is.
I've worked for 2 companies that don't ask people to pay for their ratings (I have been very lucky), and both of them have an attitude towards their employees that, in the case of my current employer, can only be described as contemptible. The last company I worked for was better, but not much and it was going downhill when I left.
My present employer pays low salaries, as it claims that by not asking people to pay for their own ratings, they recover the cost from your salary and bond you for 2 years. Of that's the case, why do salaries not jump by £10k after your bonded period?
People will always do whatever they can to get a foot in the door. Sad but true. The best we can hope for is to stick together as pilots and continually negotiate with management to keep Ts and Cs acceptable. And the best way of doing that (certainly in the UK) is by joining a union (BALPA or the IPA), and making sure it is recognised.
Hopefully, if people do that, there is a formal forum for negotiating with management that will hopefully avoid people getting screwed over- both existing employees and me joiners.
Cue debate about the effectiveness of unions! (Or not, hopefully)