I am with you on this one Roland. in the last 10 years I have seen terms and conditions go way downhill. What is nearly impossible to get across to the wannabees who say they will take our jobs tomorrow is that in 3 years time they would be grumbling like we are and there will be a new set of wannabees wanting their job...and so the cycle continues. One unfortunate by product of this process is that the calibre of wannabees is generally going downhill as well because the smart guys have realised there is no future, no security and no money in this business anymore and are all doing their degrees in underwater basket weaving so they can become accountants or HR managers in airlines where they can earn big bucks by further reducing the terms and conditions of flight crews.
In my airline we are regarded as expensive taxi drivers and treated like sh@te. No senior manager has the balls to stand up to his manager so all the crap gets passed downhill to the lowest common denominator to sort out, usually the line captains!
Its no wonder that we have started refusing discretion and looking at the MEL for reasons not to dispatch rather than to keep the airplanes moving. If you think it costs too much money to give crews decent terms and conditions just count the cost when a maximum safety policy is introduced like the chaps at CX did recently.
Well thats achieved nothing but it feels great to get it off my chest. End of rant.
On a more serious note, I am so disgusted at so many aspects of our industry that I am changing careers in my late 40s and have just done my final OPC/LPC.