I think Ops departments are constantly undervalued, you only have to look around and see that other people in the company take home more than Ops staff.
I would say that they are one of the lowest paid in some companies.
Even junior cabin crew take home more than me some months! And also there is no rising scale at some companies either to reward Loyalty. At least Easyjet seem to be doing that though!
Back to the thread topic I think...........