FlightMariner
Big money is behind all this. Airlines have managed to get pilots to pay for their own ATPL and type ratings, £120,000, thank you very much. As if that wasn't bad enough many pilots work long hours, have no annual pay review, and suffer ever worsening terms and conditions. It is not just CX, there is a similar thread to this running in the Middle East section, with allegations of an airline falsifying pilot duty hours.
The Airlines have got it all stitched up. I have been in 3 airlines, (none of them under discussion here), and the company councils were not effective in any of them - no strikes, always a fudge and acceptance of the new T's & C's. Pilots unions, are also ineffective, when was the last time there was industrial action against a new diktat? Why were the EASA flight time "limitations" accepted?
In a previous career, the broadcasting union was very strong. We had, and they continue to have, annual or biannual pay reviews, coupled with terms and conditions improvements to lifestyle and working hours. The broadcasting union also has a strong ethic to support those on the lower levels, new to the industry. Rogue broadcast companies are blacklisted in published lists. Strikes did occur, I went on strike a couple of times, once being interviewed by ITN when we had just walked out of the Ascot races broadcast: "Why had we gone on strike?, Sorry, no comment". Another time, at a large golf tournament, (cannot remember which one now), management took our places, and tried to produce the program, which was hilarious; One manager pointing a camera following what he thought was the golf ball flying through the air, only to realise it was a seagull !
I am absolutely not a raving left-winger, but a strong union with strong membership is essential in this day and age, particularly in our profession. The airline seniority system kills the will to strike - those at the top are often on part time and earning 4 times of those at the bottom, so the top earners have a much easier time and don't have the same schedules as the new, full-time joiners.
I can also imagine how an airline could neuter their company council, by offering self rostering, weekends off, posh meals out with the top brass, hints of RHS to LHS and LHS to TRE promotions and other incentives: to gently and subtly persuade CC members to go along with the CEOs and in turn persuade the workforce to follow.
I have never worked for CX nor have I ever served on a company council, so this is purely my own opinion, based on my own experience and observation, and I do not intend any offence to anybody. But we, the pilot community have got to do something to improve our industry.