as pilots we cannot and should not have cake and be allowed to eat it too!
seems to me the union route is the only way forward to accommodate worker bargaining power. those that hate to see the pay-to-fly cowboys albeit with good reason to get a foot in the aviation door; and bad airlines which constantly chip away at pilot salaries and benefits [even in good economic times] in the name of profit maximisation will succumb to the inevitable that such practices will continue unabated. individual pilots will never get airlines to curb their quest for wanting every drop of a pilot sweat and blood as contribution at lowest cost, [highest cost to the pilot].
airlines are augmenting rules and practices that are in most [some] countries damn-right illegal. employer airlines cannot embark on tax avoidance practices by shifting labour force to offshore companies. and those pilots adopting such practices are in a lose-lose situation. if your company goes under, chances are you will expect your government to look after your social welfare; but how would governments do that when bankruptcy accounting procedures such as tax avoidance leave them with empty pockets. certainly, if all industries adopted these practices you will have enlarged civil service sector just to investigate and chase after errant airlines; let alone non-domicile nationals for tax owed.
in the end the pilot loses as the employment contract he signs is with an accounting company with no regard to personal rights and welfare. employment choice will be limited as the open tap of cowboy flyers continue to fan the airline thirst for more! meanwhile, those that end up taken hostage for flying into dangerous and non-friendly states; or indeed arrested for sanction busting, etc will look to their countries to bail them out; at the cost of you know-what lost state income.
these practices will eventually be corrected. the only difference will be the lost earnings and/or licence of the pilot where compared to a [similar] hedge fund manager caught in tax avoidance aspects, who will have hidden millions and never ever need to work anymore!
the trouble seems to be that pilots have no role models anymore! its everyone looking after numero uno!
alas!