Yup....so I guess I'll just ramble on
But you can't help a management that doesn't want to be helped so that's that--and explains (at least in the case where it NEEDS help but has a management group who is wholly unwilling to listen and remains holier-than-thou) how we got to where we are; namely a race to the bottom. With stratification between a few hangar-oners marking time (which is understandable) and new hires (perhaps with no where else to go and/or using the place as a stepping stone)--and attrition everywhere in between (all of which takes the experience and sunk cost of training with them). So I guess that's the 'new normal' here. And is indeed the "Hugo Chavez" model.
I very much disagree that people don't care about other groups--especially because it's very likely they will find themselves IN that other group at some point; at least IF they stay. But maybe it's not enough. And it is easier (and perhaps more prudent) simply to ride the waves for a bit while one looks elsewhere and pulls chocks. When you have a great deal of people on a base declining command that's a pretty strong indicator you have one hell of a problem.
What IS different today is the airline biz is booming so supply and manning becomes a real problem (and the manning you want won't come to such a place--so you get folks that are going to need a great deal of training resources to get up to speed; always running the risk such assets will jump ship rather than dedicate themselves to an organization that's behaved the way it has). The question becomes to what extent does the parent company with their inefficient model wish to bleed cash to weather a storm that has no indication of abating.
Divided workforces aren't (and will never be) particularly efficient. So the spiral continues and the 5% syndrome becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy--driven entirely by the 'leadership' who sets it up. Folks goal becomes targeting what they need to do to get by and stay out of trouble rather than striving for excellence and helping the team excel. So ya get minimum effort rather than maximum productivity. And the frustrated talent looking for career development simply marks time and bolts. Like I've said this Hobbsian philosophy has failed everywhere it's been tried and won't work here (and in the process of failing it becomes only a matter of time until an organization embracing this philosophy is done for). Incentive based competitors who don't DO things like this will eat you alive (and are).
This has happened since the beginning of time on a small scale with small groups and organizations all the way up to large nation states. It's the same old song. In the case of larger nation states they sometimes so cripple their economy that they run out of stuff to survive and invade other nations to get THEIR stuff and productivity. But even this fails in that the state with greater productivity and incentive eventually prevails; sometimes quickly sometimes slowly.
One's job comprises a great deal of one's life and it's pretty silly to live this big chunk of one's life unhappy.
Money is only a small portion of this FWIW.