To me, using this thread to find out about issues and discontent in the workforce is a good way to gather the sentiment of the staff (FD), even though some of it may be not in the companies best interest. I appreciate that the voices here are the minority who probably shout the loudest!
Some points here might be real gems to the company where they could "perhaps" consider changes. People talking the company down in these forums often get their point(s) quashed by others and those moans tend be personal individual gripes rather than a mass call of discontent.
Despite no union, I would say that the company can hear/see the protest and concerns being expressed without the actions that a union might put upon a company. This site is a free look into some of the issues that concern pilots and I would say that to "them" it is more valuable to keep that flow of conern/information going rather than not.
Has the airline really done anything else than make its workforce work harder for less reward (like most companies do)? Other than T & Conditions degraded and the pilots justifyably moaning about it, why should they feel the need to force a shut down here. There are no reports here that would be comercially bad for the company and therefore why would they want to shut it down? Other than the possibility of EK crew expressing to other pilots that they should consider options of other airlines before they consider EK, surely PPRuNe is not the only source of info about the companies terms and conditions.
To me, the daily read by some of the EK management on here is a bonus to them where they can gain important information and it would be detrimental if they closed this - "the last method of free speech" (without punitive action) to tell them how it is at the coal face....
Peace out!