If there is one constant in aviation.
There is always someone willing to do your job cheaper than what you're currently doing it for.
Backstabbing is rife in this industry.
You only need look as far as the Qantas cabin crew to see what happens without some industrial protection. I've lost count of how many seperate awards that cover the one job. Each new one less attractive than the one before. Those on the initial A list think they're a protected species as the vastly inferior terms of their "colleagues" can't possibly affect their careers. Can it??? Feeling nice and cosy right up till the day the redundancy letter arrives.
I, for one, don't want to see this kind of cancer make its way into the pilot's awards. It's one thing to have other companies pay their pilots less, and for that then be a tool industrially to put downward pressure on you own pay packet. It's another thing entirely to have the cancer in your own ranks.
I've spent my first career in the military. No seniority system there. They would have you believe that promotion is merit based. Not true. The old adage was that the RAAF was like dope. The harder you suck, the higher you get.
The seniority system is far from perfect. The alternative is far worse.