The latter boils down to the fact that everyone is for themselves for two reasons. First, contracts making union membership an offence which results in immediate dismissal. Second, lack of advanced labour legislation in many Eastern European countries. Just to give you an idea of the contrast between East and West - have you ever thought why no French airline ever offers P2F schemes? Because the labour legislation in France forbids any legal entity from doing this, and airlines are no exception. On the contrary, in Eastern Europe many ACMI companies with fleets of 3 or 5 aircraft with an average age of 25 years get involved with such things. Just because there's nothing to stop them from doing so. Hence, everyone standing their ground however they find fit is not "the new normal", but the ordinary normal in many places. And this makes cases which can be used by a number of other carriers to threaten their workforce. "You see what the guys next door did? You want us to to do the same in one way or another? No? Then sign on the dotted line." Divide and conquer at its finest.