No I don't envy flight crew. I admire them and what their union has done. Why sit back and envy someone, get on and do something about it which I have.
Not quite sure where you work RIMMER can't be the same BA Engineering that I know. We simply have lost trust in our own colleagues (within engineering) that we would stand up together united. When we have previously been upset by changes such as the introductions of JAR66 but no change to license pay and no increase to authorisation pay, that was originally promised (6 years ago), the agreement is for one type but now we certify for two, three or even four types with no extra pay. When we have all agreed across all shifts in the terminals to stand up and be counted, the union general convenor has come down and given us a speach about he is not going to lose his house over it, Arthur Scargill didn't even lose his house, but never mind that. Our union reps through confusion try and pursuade us to the companies point of view and aren't interested in the hard work of doing the reverse.
But we have admiration for those of us within BA that have the balls to stand up for what they believe in.
Bushbolox whats wrong with having better than average pay, if you have it why agree to lose it just because others dont have it. That would be a step backwards. If you want more money go get it, if you have more than others then fight like hell to keep it.