Isdon.
I know a number who do have arts degrees and they all have good jobs. Its the more specialised degrees that seem to be a problem. But that is outside of the scope of this discussion.
Historically, as an industry, we have been very fractured industrially. In Qantas at one stage there were 26 unions who mostly "hated" each other. That allowed the employer and the Government to play each one off against the other. As a result, we are where we are today.
The reality of the IR process is that each workplace agreement is compared to the others and if there is a particularly bad agreement, like this one appears to be, then every other agreement including pilots agreements is subject to downward pressure. During my negotiating time I'd like a $100 for every time management produced a pie chart where all the wedges except pilots costs had gone down but our wedge had grown larger because we had held out position.
"Bagging" ( pun intended)others in your industry is always a dangerous tactic, as is eliteism.
Wunwing