So it's like pilots are being treated as bus drivers, some airlines just don't seem to recognise the skill set required for being a pilot.
Corporations are today divided: Administration and Operation. Very much by design. As a result driven by MBA process learning 'manager' see labour unit cost as something to be reduced.
The dis-function evident in many industries is attributable to the divide between function and administration. It is something academia and industry are trying to overcome; the lack of knowledge has real implications on business performance. Lack of operational knowledge costs...
For managers, pilots were in unlimited supply.
Regional airlines in Australia plundered GA, GA itself provided opportunities but also exploited pilots who had expended substantial funds acquiring entry level skills. The military too suffered as when the big airlines opened the door they lost crew.
None of these entities saw a problem in not giving back. The allowed administration to denigrate, employer heavy 'legislation and bargaining saw downward pressure on terms and conditions an accepted norm, and in Australia CASA over regulated the smaller and was captured by the larger aviation interests.
Supply of resources are finite, pilots are no exception.
The paradigm has changed and through gritted teeth and false smiles will be words like respect...Think Michael O'Leary in the recent months
Watch the airlines open flight training businesses 'to give back'.
Having set up floors at Waterside, CX city and Coward Street airlines have to confront the reality that the downward pressure and denigration of terms and conditions they loved inflicting is over, the careers they stymied, the cowardly way they hide behind terms like efficiency and market rates, world best practice will progressively disappear