Keep the issue in sight
It appears to me that the real issue was lost at times here. "The right to negotiate". We all should have that.
Comparison of jobs and salaries is a load of crap really. ATC is a highly paid job, but that is not the issue as such. If you can't negotiate with your employer you are fairly stuffed. In GA and aviation that is almost the norm.
I don't believe ATC to be a particularly stressful job and the system (Taaartss!) can be cumbersome as much as it is advanced. It doesn't do much for the terminal area with a wide mix of traffic for example, or at least not much if any improvement since its inception(Cairns for example). A good procedural controller at a place like that can save the full range of operators, money. There used to be around 11 staff in Cairns ATC, with the ACU under Tarts it became 30 or so...for what improvement to operators that use this airspace all the time? What economic viability considering the cost to the overall system? I'm not saying go backwards but get some sense into it.
Another point back there somewhere. GA pilots salary and allowance(s). Is there such a thing? Job security?
We are all professionals, and in the same industry and should, rather than look over your shoulder at the other bloke, have a look at what allows systems (beaurocratic and operational) to be accepted into the industry in a form of "gradual encroachment" to the point where it may be unacceptable by the users and operators within the industry itself. By the time it is implementd it is virtually to late to do anything about it but take drastic and expensive industrial action. A luxury ATC staff can (albeit reluctantly) employ.
I see this as, once again, as the top heavy end of the chain, the beaurocrats, not being in touch with the reality of the "coal face" and not willing to talk about it. The sad part is that it will happen again.