Flatfour suggests unions don't work in the short or long term. The Thomson CC have over many decades kept us at the forefront regarding terms and conditions. As a 25 year pilot who works 680 hrs per year my remuneration compares whith almost any pilot worldwide and I don't live in the tropics, sandpit or do longhaul.
Thomson success is down to the calibre of guys who serve on the CC and a staunch core of supporters. Bob Crowe achieves similar for RMT members through hard nose tactics.
Pilots can apear a strange bunch, isolated or ego driven. Simple really, we are articulate and motivated employees with huge leverage who occasionally need to grow dangly bits as the VS guys have done. The middle class squadron mentality can hold us back as can the diverse ethnicicity that now pervades airlines such as Ryanair. These can be overcome with communication and a realisation that the vaseline treatment doesn't have to be accepted as the norm.
Good luck guys.