CamelSquadron,
I have no guilt at all coming to work, knowing that my EBA (or now, Workplace Determination) has provisions that discourage the company from making me redundant. I also have no guilt that there is a clause that says that the newest person hired is the first one to be made redundant, and so on. They are not unreasonable. There are major problems with a redundancy system that just kicks people off an aeroplane type, not least of all that no-one will ever want to fly a type that is even a possibility for retirement. Those who get assigned to it bidding off as soon as they can, increasing overall training costs for the company.
I'm also perfectly comfortable with the fact the extra dollars the company are spending in carrying a surplus is a mere drop in the ocean of the overall costs, and that more money is spent on parties, celebrations and wine than on keeping long term employees temporarily in work, especially when they will, in the not too distant future, be required again.
This management has incurred more in fines for engaging in illegal practices than it pays to manage the pilot surplus.