Said employees are probably caught between a rock and the proverbial hard place. They got suckered into the job and jumped at the chance of employment only to discover that all was not as it was portrayed. They now find themselves desperate to get out but there is very little work out there in the industry. You do not walk if you have a mortgage and bills to pay and a family to feed unless you have a firm offer of alternative employment. What you see here is guys with a conscience offering up a warning to others who may be tempted into working for this outfit.
"The employees make the airline not the owners. Stand up to them and they will listen."
In this case you could not be further from the truth, but until you have had first hand experience, may I suggest you sit back, listen and learn.
Stand up to Mr Smith and get shown the exit. Simple as that. It does not matter how much experience you may have or how good you are at your job, things are done his way, nobody else matters. Rules and regulations, they are for other people and that goes for operational procedures, crew duty hours, cargo and Dangerous Goods etc etc.
Things will never get better within Avient, they will continue to operate under Mr Smiths terms and his terms only as he honestly believes he is untouchable and if he ever gets his Belgium AOC it will only compound the issue.
It may appear that these people are just whining about the man they work for, but look at it from a different angle and accept that what they are saying is really a warning to anyone considering getting involved. A quick look at the turnover of staff should convince you of that. So, stop being so quick to criticise, these guys are in the worst possible situation and until they find another job in the real world, give them a little credit for hanging on in there, if only to pay the bills. Continually criticising them and making daft suggestions is not helping them.