SR71/studi
what exactly is so different from UK IR law compared to e.g. Germany or France that prevents a pilot group from fighting for better T&C over time?
Like it or not there are
major differences across the EU regarding IR legislation, too numerous to go into here. FWIW the differences between French and UK IR law are eyewatering ( ask anyone with an interest in both countries) despite both of them being in the EU, so you really can't read across from the French and/or German rule set and say that those rules must apply EU wide or in the UK.
There's nothing to stop a UK group fighting for better T&Cs for themselves , but your negotiations have to be in good faith ( deliberately outlandish demands made in order to trigger a strike over a secondary issue will lead to an injunction.) and you can't strike over the T&Cs of future employees, or employees of another Op Co....( yet again cf. Open Skies).
I don't like much of current UK IR legislation but we're stuck with it.