Essentially you are describing a situation where pilots have become a commodity (like oil) and what the bean counter's text books call an 'efficient market' has developed. There is price (in this case wage) transparency and a going rate has been established. The premise here is that all pilots are the same and that paying more is wasted money. Actually I still see pretty big wage differences particularly between locals and contractors, although most of us can agree there seems to be a worldwide reduction in overall terms and conditions.