You're right remoak, it is supply and demand. At the moment there is sufficient demand for pilots, and sufficiently limited supply, that they can ask for better employment conditions safe in the knowledge that if the company doesn't play ball, they can move on. In a couple of years things will be different again, seat changes will be slow, and then everyone at Nelson will be glad conditions were improved "back in '08".
It's not rocket science, take it while you can 'cause it is managements job to keep costs down and they won't improve your conditions out of the goodness of their hearts. You have to sqeeeeeeze it out of the stoney buggers when the opportunity arises.
It's just business. And don't get too scared about the company going broke, there are plenty of management and administrative positions that have a productivity rating of zero that they could axe, plenty of bonuses that could be reduced. I know of load controllers (not that they fall in that catagory) who take home more pay than the pilots they deliver the load sheet to, so with that in mind I don't think it would be the pilots salary that brings the company to its knees.