Gidday apache me 'ol mate.
Quite some months ago the cheif pilot at REX said to me that "money" is not the only consideration when choosing to remain as a regional airline pilot!
Frankly, I coudn't agree more. What blew me away however is that because of the greatly reduced conditions (max hours, more and more non-pilotage duties, and as you so rightly put, basically getting flogged), he was unable to see that money was now the only consideration!
He indicated that an improvement in lifestyle would help to reverse the trend. Once again, agreed. Lifestyle will not improve, and in any case I doubt it ever will, untill the pilot numbers expand considerably. More lip service. They have proven that they have no hesitation in working us max hours with as little support as they can get away with.
This situation will continue to deteriorate untill such time as the T&C's improve. It will take years to reverse the trend. Unless they do something now, REX are in serious trouble indeed.