I keep reading about how evil "management" is and how they are responsible for the many ills related to the pressures on pilots. Where are the pilot unions in all of this? What is their role and why are they not addressing any of these "obvious" problems?
I guess there are several problems. One is that unions are outlawed in the regions of the earth with the highest growth rate in aviation.
Another one is that the EU for example has allowed companies to build cross-border entities while unions at the same time do not allow the same cross-border freedom. Reason is that most of social and working law is still not unified and a thing for each single state, not the EU. However, even though that does make it more difficult pilots in different carriers do react differently to that. Some never unionised and i doubt it will happen anytime soon (FR), others are unionised despite their cross-border structure (easyjet).
Anyway, a union council can only negotiate from a position of power if their colleagues stand united. If pilots do not join the relevant union, don't care about CLAs and fly during industrial actions (which is sometimes unavoidable in the EU), there is no surprise if things go downhill. No employer will better T&Cs if a union turns up saying "pretty please", you have to force them.