Gidday strut'.
I Hear what you are saying. In fact the original EBA as presented to the pilot group back in 02' had all references to seniority removed!
The Hazelton pilot group identified this and other lttle "nasties" and by voting no, forced a more equitable change. One of which was the reinstatement of seniority. The "needs of the company" clause was inserted by management as a sort of "saftey" net by which they could do pretty much what they want if necessary. Or so they thought.
The problem is, this ability to "do as we please" so to speak has been effectively removed due to precedent. Now nothing would surprise me, but it would be a foolish management indeed if they attempted to try that one on, just to save a few bucks. To attempt to justify the retrenchment of a senior pilot over a more junior one, because the junior pilot is paid less, would certainly raise a few eyebrows in the IRC to say the least. Hell, the payout of the senior Pilot's entitlements alone would destroy any such arguement in that area. As well as that, the retrenched pilot retains his/her seniority position for at least 2 years.
More grief than it would be worth!