Wobble2plank, I agree other sections have made change over many years, but I think it's been slow and amount of change is small.
Yes, the CC need to live in the real world, but the reason why the company want such big changes in such a small time is due to a long history of weak management looking after the CC.
The CC are in a very tight spot, they have great T+Cs and would find it hard to match them in the real/outside world, this is why they will fight tooth and nail to keep as much as possible.
CC have hugh contact time with customers, I think a balance is needed, I think changers are too big and too fast, we all need to remember CC are people with family and bills etc etc.
2010 will be a bad year for many airlines, we will see some big headlines this year, good luck to all staff in all the airlines, none more so than the company CC.