I, too, used to believe that CEOs must deserve the pay the get because of the extraordinary responsibilities they bear and the exceptional insights they've gained from their years of experience and training. Then I grew up. CEOs are paid so much because their self-interests coincide with those of the boards and the remuneration consultants they hire to determine their salaries.
Every time they make a decision, they can call on highly paid consultants to advise them and
PR people to spin the results of their mistakes. If they do lose their jobs they will have a golden parachute and they know that other company boards and remuneration consultants will not judge them harshly. Can anyone cite an example of a CEO who was not actually jailed for his behaviour who ended up in the unemployment line?
The pilot, engineer, cabin attendant or customer service rep, on the other hand, has to make decisions without consultation all day, knowing that their actions will be judged from above by people and institutions whose main objective is to protect themselves, rather than to reach a fair conclusion. If they follow the company rule book strictly, they'll be judged inflexible. If they bend the rules to account for reality, they'll be judged insubordinate. Either way, they hit the highway!
Marketing calls Qantas "Australia's airline," when it's really owned by bank holding companies. If Qantas goes bung, the CEO will depart by golden parachute. The holding companies scratch a little value off their funders' assets, though they might avoid that by having bet against Qantas in the share market casino. The board members collect their fees and move on to other companies. If Qantas survives (even in the short term), they all collect their bonus and move on.
Because of deference to authority, the majority of customers will always swallow the management line and blame any inconvenience on greedy staff instead of greedy or incompetent management, regardless of the facts.
We need unions because, without them, employees will always lose in a dispute with management.