Makes sense, Guv. For too long it has been considered sacriligeous to question the supremacy of seniority in the workplace, but one has to remember that management derives all of the benefit (illusory IMHO) from such a system because restricting employee mobility ultimately depresses pay & benefits. We could well see more "free agent" arrangements for pilots but the airlines will have to get involved in financing the training (through loans or bonding) because the costs are prohitive for newbies; in IT it only takes a few thousand dollars to get qualified to earn a living and even then a lot of it is picked up by the employers.
As for the Ryanair and SW stunt I suspect it will be short-lived, since such barriers will ultimately lead to a pilot shortage as more wannabes decide to explore other career options. There may be plenty of operators stupid enough to try it but the law of averages dictates that there are still enough people in the industry with enough brains to recognize a non-starter when they see one.