Pilots are always focused on themselves, and for whatever reason, tend to shut out the factors that build a business called an airline.
The consumer/passenger who pays your wages (eg next door neighbour) demands that they pay less; Yield recently attempted to move the fares up $10 dollars, yet immediately the market responded and the forward booking profile dropped - just a ten dollar rise!! You cannot make money nor survive by flying an empty airplane until the opposition runs out of money - just doesn't work. We all want to drive shiny new planes - they have to be paid somehow.
I think that the answer is to champion a campaign convincing "joe public" the real cost of flying, and secondly I notice that the aircraft and engine manufactures are still not assisting the industry by offering a fair and reasonable deal for all.
The pilot group, in fact the entire airline industry, needs to work out a solution to resolve these issues and the rest will fall into place.