If you weren't able to do the job as a 'routine function' day to day, the aptitude tests, the personality tests, and the other assessment processes would have weeded you out way before you even sat in front of a console
Yep, the same way the selection process ("aptitude tests, the personality tests, and the other assessment processes") weeds out 90 odd percent of applicants, and the way the "Academy" course/OJT weeds out another 30-50% of those who do get through. You may well argue that ATC is "blue collar" work, but having had a hand in training ATC's for over 10 years I'd question how many tradies would have the skills (yes, they are both unique AND rare) to get through ATC training...
ATC's are worth what the market says they are worth, (thankfully) not what you say they are worth. At the moment they are being paid under the international going rate. The concern isn't with "those...who have stayed..(and) have absolutely no intention of leaving", it's attracting recruits in the future. As they say; pay peanuts, get monkeys.