Amazon staff might get paid 50% less because shares have fallen so much

This is why I always quote my total comp as cash when negotiating. I have multiple times been able to turn total comp into salary (with a slight bump overall). Last time I did it, former employer's stock tanked shortly after I left. Dodged one there.

YMMV, but I've never been successful doing this, and the compensation available in salary + stock (modulo some expected risk) has always greatly exceeded cash-only compensation.

I tended to do it when I jumped to a company who didn't have RSUs. The anchoring of my current RSUs + my vagueness describing it (I didn't break it down) + the fact that I was jumping jobs after a few years was enough to secure it as cash and then some. Probably harder to do in this market, but the last few years it was a consistently easy play (did it a few times).