Ah grrowler, if only it were that simple, and aviation was liike other industries. How many other industries have to compete with businesses who are deliberately running at or below cost just to get the business? Not just occasionally but all the time?You are often competing with people with little or no management experience who will trade profit for cash flow and then wonder why they can't pay their bills and nobody will give them any credit.
You say:
"The difference with aviation is a great surplus of pilots who love what they do, which Mr/s Operator realise and take advantage of."
Please may I rephrase that a little:
"The difference with aviation is a great surplus of pilots who will bend over and allow Mr/s Operator to take advantage of them. "
or
"The difference in aviation is a great surplus of operators who will bend over and let the customer take advantage of them"
By doing so they all contribute to the problem. Did anyone hold a gun to your head and force you to accept the remuneration package you are on? You could have said "no", and still can. So how come you are grumbling now? If operator A pays the award, and operator B doesn't, then who should you work for? By accepting less you will be valued less.
If you want to petition someone, try the parts suppliers, the compo people, the chaps in Singapore who set the fuel rates, the currency markets....try getting the government to subsidise the industry.
Any idea what 500 bucks will buy? Maybe ten hours of a LAMEs time, or half an alternator, or 2.5% of a propeller, or reupholster a couple of seats, or a magneto, or about 2.5 tyres, and that's just for a little Cherokee....Not much in the grand scheme of things, is it.
Joe Bloggs et al will generally only be inerested in the cheapest hourly rate, which is usually accompanied by the most bullsh1t about the service they will get for it.