At the end of the day, no matter how much posturing and shouting goes on, how many people actually DO vote with their feet? Every year the pay rise/drop comes out, the allowances change, and people say "that's it, I'm going" - but 6 months later they are still there because in reality, you have very little choice but to keep slogging away for the pension at the end of it all. It does people good to let off steam, but at the end of the day, the upper echelons know that only a very small percentage will actually walk - and this is a recognised fact. When Pay2K came in to the RN, and everyone was divided into Upper and Lower Classes, the WO(MAA)s put their notices in. Nice as an expression of dislike for the system, but over the next 6 months, all the notices came out again as they realised that they liked the job, could cope with the money, and they wanted that nice big pension at the end of it.
If you leave know, no matter how much stability you inject into your life, your next employer is not going to cough up to educate your children....