mephisto,
great post!
Out of interest, the pay cuts applied to A scales in 99 gave savings three times greater than the cost of giving the 99-01 payrises to B scales. Since there were no payrises from 02-07(incl) the staff savings from the paycuts were still greater than the previously given payrises. I haven't checked but even given the diminishing number of A scales and the company's excessive Jan 08 pay rise, I think the savings still outweigh the costs.
So, simply put, the cost per pilot has not gone up since 1999!