Nearly Nigel's explaination of the pros and cons of a seniority list seems to refer to one particular list, BA. He concludes by stating that it benefits the company more than the pilot. That may or may not be so, but it is not the point. There are considerable beneifits for the pilots.
Seniority lists protect the pilots from the company in many ways. For example promotion. If your face doesn't fit with whatever management are in situ, you will be passed over regardless of service. Seniority protects you against that. If you are paid by route/type etc. the same applies. When your turn comes you get your choice, they cannot pass over you for some impatient brown noser.
Finally safety. It may be difficult for the most talented 1500 hours pilots ( of which an endless stream appear here ) to understand but a dunce with 20,000 hours has certain advantages over them. Wait a few years and you will learn why. Change seats and you will rapidly learn why. Why is it 30 year Beckham could tell more talented Rooney a thing or two about retaliation in a World Cup?
Nearly Nigel concludes that Seniority benefits the company because:
A) in a glut they can change your t&cs.
NN in a shortage with no seniority they could just fire the senior guys to cut costs. No doubt Lucifer would like this until he reaches the top quicker than expected only to be fired midway through what he thought was a career.
B) in a shortage they retain their workforce and any improvement is a trickle up philosophy that takes too long.
NN with respect I think you are merging Seniority and Unions into one area. Seniority is fine and should be completely transparent. It's like a fixed rate mortgage, you know exactly what you will get in the future. If your bank decides unilaterally to change your rate for the worse and you cant get a solicitor or omdubsman to protect you, dont blame fixed rates.
The different unions throughout the industry have varying success rates at protecting our t&cs. This is not the fault of Seniority but rather the people on the list and obviously the unions involved.
For example, excuse my ignorance of BAs situation, but if you have three separate pensions then the unions have messed up. The 3 groups will be defined by seniority but the situation must have arisen due to a poor defense of t&cs by the pilots/unions.
Equally if different groups do not see the benefit of a united position defending all members of the seniority list at all times then you might as well tear up the list. Walsh will merely attack each group one at a time and in the absence of a united front they will all lose.