I am glad Enzo999 posted his rant - its perfectly justified because it reflects the plight of the "experienced pilot" in the UK and W.Europe in general. The problem is, there is more than a grain of truth in what John_Smith has posted too. I think his post reflects more how pilots are viewed and treated by "the industry" rather than his opinion being we are all defacto "semi-skilled workers".
The route cause lies with EZY and RYR who have ruthlessly driven costs out of the airline model at every level to deliver "cheap" flying for the masses. They have seen rapid growth and report consistent profits with their game-changer model and this is enticingly attractive to investors and airline managers (who survive their jobs by keeping investors happy). Make no mistake, if airlines could pay the minimum wage to FO's they would (in many cases they arguably do!); fuel, maintenance, finance and wages are the big 4 in airline costs - two they cant do too much about so they will sure as hell
the other two for all they can.
Sadly I don't see much hope of change anytime soon; until there is a shortage of pilots the laws of economics suggest wages and conditions will remain under pressure for some time. Unfortunately the CAA sees nothing wrong with this structural change (despite losses in experience from UK aviation), neither does BALPA and the industry remains safe enough and efficient enough so the travelling public don't care much either.
The situation at Monarch, should they stay or should they go, will do nothing to help.