As someone who started in the EU, and is now in the US the difference is staggering. Regulations are way more anti union/labo(u)r in the US than in the EU, but EVERY airline in the US is 100% unionized, and union participation in other sectors in the US is much lower than in the EU. Was just on the SAS T/C on PJN, and apparently a junior FO starts at about E3300/month, going up to E10k/month for a super senior captain. First year FO pay in the US for any good company is at least E7500/month, with 12 year captain pay at least E22K/month, and WB 25 year pay probably around E50K/month. I know Southwest 737 captains that make E500/year working less than 15 days a month. The way the unions work here is called closed shop. You can elect to not join but will still have to pay 80%ish of the dues for the benefits you receive. In practice nobody does that so the union speaks for the whole group. And the union leaders are elected by that group. Compared to other sector non-union workers in the US, and non-union pilots in the EU our conditions are vastly better. I will let you draw your own conclusions.....