I've seen quite a few posts saying that no other company has reserve without being paid for it, or words to that effect. On the contrary there are plenty of companies out there that have reserve as part of their base conditions ie there is no additional pay for it. Some have restrictions on how and when it can be used but some do not even have that.
I hate reserve as much as the next person but some sort of contingency tools are required by any airline. This does not seem any worse than the current situation and is better than the unlimited right to roster reserve alluded to above.