Whatever jackwagon back in the day who thought we should get paid by the flight hour deserved to be beaten down. When your at work you should be getting paid for it. Not hey, lets show up do a bunch of work getting the plane ready, but lets not get paid until the brake is released and the door is shut....then lets sit for 3 hours after that waiting for our next flight on company time not getting paid as well. What f'ing moron agreed to that!!!!
The "jackwagon", in question, would be National Labor Board Decision 83 which was incorporated into CAB Act of 1938. Pay has been, and is, based on aircraft speed and weight, paid by the hour. Do some research on how we got here and then understand how tough it will be to change.
To give an idea, the MD-88 TOGW is 150,000 lbs and the CRJ 700 is 75,000 lbs. So, DL and AA pay about $160/hour for CAs and $110 for FOs. To be on the mainline pay, roughly $80/hour for RJ CAs and $55/hour for FOs. Not good. Block speeds are probably worse for RJs, so that would reduce pay even more.
GF