Did EK actually get a payrise. Last time I looked in my shopping basket 'realistic' inflation was running at about 10-15%. Seems to me we have just got a slightly smaller pay cut.
Loyalty is an important asset for any company but sadly it tends to get shunted to the back when a company grows from being a small employer to a larger one. I believe Virgin has suffered from a similar problem , where the bearded one has traded on loyalty for years whilst gradually diminishing the worth of his employees. Sadly when the loyalty of the troops starts to disappear, the initial effects are very insidious but then a glut of experience is lost 3 or 4 years down the line and it takes many more years to correct the situation.
Emirates is quite proactive in a lot of areas but the company will screw itself it continues to devalue the employees. Lack of representation is a snag, but always will be in the middle east, there was one rumour swirling that the management had been authorised to give pilots a 29% payrise but had also been told they would get 1% of any savings made in reducing this rise. If this is true it appears to be another example of the management padding their wallets at the expense of employees.
Emirates is in danger of becoming that old tree full of monkeys, everyone looking down from the top of the tree sees smiling faces but all the monkeys at the bottom can see are a bunch of....