The race to the bottom and deterioration of working conditions is a modern disease of uncontrolled capitalism: managers are paid bonuses if they reduce costs and achieve ambitious targets, often managers are brainwashed to a point where they genuinely believe that constant improvement is possible and indefinitely achievable, this approach has been causing new form of slaveries in all industries where workforces are squeezed to the extreme and pushed to the limit. This is especially true when constant improvement is applied to costs. The LowCo model is the biggest threat to our wellbeing and our health, not just in aviation, many examples of the LowCo model are in retail, travel, hospitality, manufacturing, IT, and many other industries. I am seriously worried about the mental health of our modern societies: a few top earners making millions, the vast majority working under "inhumane" or "challenging" conditions (long hours, minimum rest, excessive workload, etc), it is not a coincidence that mental health is becoming a serious and frequent issue in most modern societies. Working hard should be a pleasure, the pilot job should be amazingly rewarding and fascinating as it used to be, but we do not need to go as far as pilots to notice the deterioration in working conditions over the recent years, even working for an airline as cabin crew or ground staff used to be a dream job until a few years ago!... these dreams have now gone, unfortunately corporations have taken advantage of human beings and the results are obvious: poor working conditions, fatigue, stress and so on.
I am not a communist and I still believe that capitalism is the best option however due to human selfishness and unlimited greed we need to find the right balance or we will perish, we need to push our governments to introduce better working conditions for all and protect what we have achieved over the centuries, we also need to reinforce industrial relationships through strong and better engaged Unions. The German model is a good example of modern capitalism and government regulations: very high productivity against good salaries and excellent working conditions, most of the North of Europe can be taken as a good example of controlled Capitalism. Very different from the USA where the aberrations of uncontrolled capitalism are becoming more and more evident: e.g. not only pilots conditions but a vast proportion of the entire US economy is based on poor mass working conditions, e.g. low wages, long hours, minimum vacation, no sickness payments, etc (just ask airport workers in there as an example)...e.g. tips as main source of income in the hospitality and food industry, and so on.
We cannot indefinitely reduce costs, we will pay a massive price in the long term if we do not legislate in favour of good working conditions. It is very simple really.
I was also very critical against Unions in the past but I have to admit now that without good Unions the general population working conditions are totally unprotected from exploitation. It is already happening.