Curtain Rod has hit the nail on the head.
The plain cold hard fact of the matter is that there are thousands and thousands of people who would be happy to work for this company as a pilot.
If, as has been mentioned, the DFO is unconcerned with the idea that pilots will be leaving, then look at it from their shoes.
1 - This is the standard response from management to any employee under them. Leave, ok, if you must, as we have thousands and thousands of people who would like to fill your position. It's like any relationship for that matter....
It's not like the position is now highly specialised and requires years of experience. Sure we need the aptitude to gain a licence, pass the training and sims once arrived in HK, but truthfully, what special service do we provide as entry level pilots?
The Captain is always right, and has loads of experience and years in the company.
The F/O, well, is the F/O, here to catch the errors that the Capt could miss.
And the S/O, being hardworking, with a positive attitude, holding a licence, and obviously intelligent enough to pass the selection process, is one step removed from the next carbon copy of himself, which has been compounded by the fact that the flying experience required to replace him/her is minimal.
2 - The only time they will change their thinking is if many people resign each month, and it starts to cost them money, or we have the courage to join the FAU and be on the evening news. Our local pilots would need to take a lead role in this, as a bunch of foreigners, even though some of us have spent as long as 25 years in HK, protesting for better working conditions, while causing disruptions to the travelling public, is optically a disaster.
The effect this has on the staff can be seen in the not so recent survey. The constant, never-ending reductions in respect, allowances, benefits, wage growth, layovers, RPs, FTLs, and even profit share, has a huge toll on job satisfaction. We all wonder what is next?
One of the few remaining work related positives I see are an uneventful trip, with a good crew, to one of the few remaining decent layovers, eating a nice lunch and having a good sleep.