I'd hate to think how long an airline would last if some of the posters on here were ever to run them. The naivety of some on this thread is bewildering, considering that some of you are actual airline pilots and hence, by definition, are of at least middle management rank in your companies.
Comments as petty and stupid as
"the only thing that will stop the rot, is when the inevitable happens, some captain becomes incapacitated and some bloke who's paying to sit in the RHS spuds a plane into the ground." only serve to show how ill thought out and innocent in the ways of the world some of you are. At least those of us with a modicum of experience, both airline and of the world, know that there is never one single cause of an airliner crash. If an F/O, SSTR or otherwise, "spuds" one into the ground, with casualties or not, it will ultimately be the captain who shoulders the ultimate responsibility for letting the situation get so out of control in the first place. Of course, the angry brigade will probably claim that the captain was SSTR'd also!
All this talk of recruitment bans and "penalising" those wannabes who have SSTR'd is a total waste of time and energy. You should be canvassing the CAA and the regulatory bodies, not your fellow pilots. You should be ashamed for trying to stir up resentment just because you feel that way. Get your priorities right and get the regulations changed rather than pick on your fellow pilots just because they did what they could to get on that rung of the ladder below you.