GN, a job anywhere is more than merely a contract. When we joined the company there was the contract which was explicit.
However, the recruitment team and management also filled us in on "how we do things around here" and the various benefits of the job, this was the implicit part of the decision to join.
For all of us that have been here more than a few years (and you have not been here that long and during that time have found a way to get rapidly promoted) it is the changes in the everyday working terms and conditions that are not within the scope of the contract that have changed things so much for us.
Every time there is a negative change, like your wonderful cost-neutral credit scam, you are saying to the employee's, you have no safety net, we can change what we like.
This is why the airline is approaching crisis in both your new and your old department.
When are you and your fellow managers going to get it, every time you sneak a couple of dollars off our contracts it has a cumulative negative effect.
In case you haven't realised it you personally hold a degree of responsibility for the present Flt Ops climate, maybe that's why you defend it so actively.