Ok, I'll have a crack at this question.
The problem with this industry is entirely the fault and within the gift of the pilots in it.
By clinging to unionisation, yet for some reason never using the option to strike, I'd argue you could be seen as a soft touch. Draw the line in the sand early, show some intransigence and bloody mindedness and the end result will not be that the airline whips the dust cover off of the crewless airliner it has waiting in the hangar in case you spit out your dummy.
While I'm at it and as the thread seems to have moved to cover those at the bottom being poorly paid. Or perhaps less kindly, cadets on pisspoor contracts getting pisspoor money. How about recognising that they might be in the union too? I'd always assumed that it sort of worked alongside the NATO rules of engagement, that an attack on one precipitated defence by all the others.
Seemingly not. Airline management does what it does and it should be no surprise that there are unscrupulous elements that seek to take advantage. The real disgrace is that those of us who don't have to suffer the thick end of the wedge don't even feel upset about it. So I'd appeal to selfishness, which seems to be the only thing that everyone has in common.
You're next.