Monarch man- I totally agree that the conditions, from what I can read on this thread in particular, are not what you would expect for such a position living in the South of England. This is definitely not in question.
However for myself and most others I would imagine, paying the bills and feeding your family rates higher than fighting this ever declining industry on your own. If i had no job and needed to pay the bills then i wouldn't hesitate to take the job even for the conditions mentioned on this thread.
Everybody's situation is different and hence you can't know the reason why they took the job in the first place.
Cheers