Had the conditions prevailed then as they do now probably many would have thought twice. Fundamentally then we joined to forge a career, these days guys hop from company to company in search of wide bodies and big bucks then complain as to their treatment by the management, which on the whole is a culture problem for many working outside EU. It goes without saying that safety is a critical issue, however the public are fickle and forget tragic events but remember pilot strikes when we are portrayed as a protected overpaid species. As nearly all recent disasters have been Pilot error, joe public would vote for better training and experience levels over our pay and conditions. In simple terms the public doesn't have a clue and we are labelled by the media in a certain way, sadly mud sticks. Commercially this is a dog eat dog industry and managers support their working practices based on the premis the airline must survive. The industry is corrupted from the bottom up when guys accept jobs on poor conditions driven by pressure and debt. The reality is for every guy that says "no stuff it" you will find ten to accept. Incidentally the London tube drivers do so well due to strong unions that can call out all sorts of workers in support of pay claims etc. observing the recent NAS dispute real traction was made After support from ground staff. Same with Shamrock in 2009 .Im too old for it to effect my career now but not too old to care.