Indeed, this is why people understand and sympathise with striking pilots.
Speak for yourself. I live in US and I am a pilot (not commercial) but I never detect any sympathy on this side of the Atlantic when pilots strike. Everybody knows that except of some rookies working for regionals they are well compensated compared with other professions. Oh yeah, we know their compensations went down considerably in the last 10 years but they still are well compensated. Talk to pilots like Les Abend from American Airlines (you can see him often on CNN these days when there is another crash) - he complains about the recent pay-cuts but grudgingly admits he is still well compensated.