Stall Pusher, you put forward some salient points. A few, however, are wide of the mark. There will always be disparity between flight crew rates of pay and operators. Differing airlines offer different rates of pay to attract the best pilots which results in cheaper training costs and a reduction in the insurance paid by the company. Add to that the inherent
PR associated with a good safety record and you can see a collective benefit from attracting pilots to a company at 'the top of the tree'. As the training, experience and type qualification of pilots is a protracted, expensive and difficult route this is a well established migratory regime and one that is unlikely to change drastically.
Sadly Cabin Crew minimum training requirements and qualifications are somewhat easier to replicate in a short time scale.
As to the pension. Well, as the pension is based upon current stock market valuations and, as the world stock markets crashed out worse than Amy Winehouse at a crack party, I fail to see how the pension deficit could have done anything other than worsen. Couple that with the money grabbing antics of our lovely 'gone is boom and bust' Government and you can see that just about every other private final salary pension is in the same leaky boat. Sinking fast!