The FUNDAMENTAL difference between Ngineers and Pilots is this. Pilots are prepared to fly for next to nudda because they LOVE to fly. Pilots in GA have forever flown for nothing or very close to it; sweeping hangar floors; being office boys or any type of lackie job that the "boss" could and would exploit them for. This mindset is then carried further to the "airlines" where said individuals are prepared to sell their grandmothers at the expense of colleagues in order to park their arse in the front seat of a multicrew aircraft.
Airline Managers know this and play on this FACT. Eventually there is nothing left to sell or give and we are left with the dysfunctional industry that we have today.
Things will change sometime. They will have too. But for me, the only thing that I can see that will turn it around is a smoking hole or two in the ground.