cmx,
Having put 126.9 on my "ignore" list, I might not be up to the very latest mud-slinging on this thread.
To answer your post, however:
1. I was not trying to say that those pilots put from a full-time to a limited contract were being treated fairly, so you are certainly right to talk about discrimination.
2. Any bad management, and the Crossair/Swiss management is certainly bad, will attack the weakest link of a chain... In this instance, it was the foreign pilot, not because they were foreign, but because they were vulnerable. The fact that only a handful of those pilots actually ever joined the union did not help, although in their situation I would not have joined either... So I respectfully submit than xenophobia is the wrong word.
3. I have grown up in this country, and although often living abroad, I continue to live here happily. Switzerland has the highest percentage of foreign-nationals of any nation I know. It also takes in the highest number of refugees in relation to it's size of any country I know. While we have our fair share of idiots and bigots, I simply refuse to acknowledge xenophobia as being more rampant in Switzerland than anywhere else, quite the contrary actually. I call it the way i see it, while accepting any differring opinion, as long as it stays above the belt-line (reason why Mr. 126.9 is on my "ignore" list.)
4. I did a brief 3-year stint at Swissair. Had I stayed on, I would now probably be facing dismissal. This in respect with my seniority number, not because of my passport. As I said before, number 1 to 8 on that list are Dutch, and they enjoy all the privileges that are due to them. Which is as it should be.
Greetings.