There was always that classic bar-room discussion about the real salary of an airline pilot. The argument is now even worse with the type of roster 5/4 that EU LoCo's operate.
Take a months roster; look at the number of hours Mon-Fri between 08.30 & 17.30: now look at the number of hours worked outsides these = overtime to anyone else. use 150% for hours before and after Mon-FRi & 150% for daytime weekends & 200% for night weekends. Then calculate what the basic salary was for the weekday normal hours. It will shock you. The same can be done for engineers & Ops staff and all others in the 24/7 brigade.
Of course we expect to work 24/7 in such an industry. One CP even suggested that we do not work shifts so do need compensation; that was a laugh. However, the real test is to see what % of your duties are within normal hours and what % outside i.e. within normal overtime. Engineers & Ops staff who do regular shift generally work 4/4; way better than a 5/3 or the 6/2 of some cabin crew. I once found that in summer months my hours often were >50% in the overtime periods. No free weekends: No sympathy offered, nor compensation.
The name of the game, and it will get worse. Be thankful that most LoCo's do not fly too many trip through the night. 5 earlies are bad enough; 4 nights are hell and dangerous.