The idea that pilots have stronger unions, I am not convinced.
The main reasons are, the pilot is required to undergo medical check up and at a doctors's stroke, his/her carrier is in jeopardy. Annually or bi-annually the pilot has to pass an evaluation that could jeopardize the carrier if not passed succesfully. A multitude of other checks, such as line check, Dangerous goods, First aid, MNPS,etc.... have to be passed.
I respectfully disagree.. Really,
"hello my name is Captain Jones, I get paid 300k a year because I am forced to eat healthy and get some excercise".
I undergo countless hours of recurrent training and testing (DG is one of them) on 7 types of aircraft!!!
The largest mistake US A&P made was not to jump on the ALPA bandwagon when it was offered to technicians in it's early stages.
By nature of the job, pilots tend to spend more time away from home, while engineers even the ones working shifts tend to be more at home.
I know I do not represent the masses but 4-5 years of my career were spent living on an aircraft, had no problem with the being away from home part, hell I loved the odd chance to stay in a fine hotel in an exotic land. The problem was when the pilots went to the hotel after an 8 hour flight I still had several 8 hour legs to go before I saw a real bed.
A pilot with experience can usually pick and choose what he wants, some love inter continental flight, it is easy for a senior guy to usually give up a few dollars and fly a few short legs a day, be home for dinner and get plenty of time off.