... the company has put them over the barrel again and said we won’t order the 777X until we have finalised the pay for it and that will be the same as the 787.
That should come as absolutely no surprise. Fleet pay and simplification of the award was always the aim, and once it got over the line, every future aircraft was going to be flown in line with those conditions.
Also, if the future long haul fleet is 787/777, can’t both aircraft can be flown by the same crews, under the same ticket? In that case, aligning the pay scales would make sense, no matter how unpalatable in comparison to the past.