Exactly!
It is easy for the "Lucky" ones that had luck with timing in this industry and moved fast thru the regionals to the majors to point at the starting guys and tell them not to take the job if you do not like the pay. They won't help you change anything, they will just spit down and tell you to stop complaining if you are dumb enough to work for a pay you do not like.
But believe me, They did it themselves, they took the bad paying jobs too.... once upon a time....but back then before they destroyed for everyone coming behind the jobs did not pay as bad as today but they did not have to take it for long because they had LUCK.

Some claim that if you do not like the pay then you should do something else. If everybody would think like that and base their career on income we would see more hookers and drug dealers.

There are people that need more then just a pay check when they work. They need to love what they do and that does not mean that they do not have the right to be compensated according to the responsibility and demands that comes with the job and it does not mean that they have no right to complain about it after they taken the job.

One thing that will surprised many is that it is not always management that destroyed the entry level salary. No it is the Unions and the senior pilots that every time a pay scale has to be negotiated make sure the senior guys get first and the most junior well....ends under the buss. Stop blaming management only. Greed is the problem.

In many companies Management tells the union what they can afford to pay for a two man flight crew and it is up to the union to divide that sum between the CP and the FO.

Who do you think get the most? and who do you think that the CPs in the union do not give a **** about? and who do you think the CPs tells to not worry that you will upgrade and benefit from it eventually?

Greed and selfish attitude among the pilot ranks is what destroyed the pay scales more than management. Today an FO has to have an ATP and 1500 hours and that was the min requirement for Captains back in time, the FO has to have a PIC rating in type, the FO has to check the paper work, sign for the weight and balance and everything else. If something goes wrong the FO is as ****ed as the Captain.

There are at the regional thousand of pilots that are stuck as FOs (because of the darn 65 year rule and the economy) and that had and have more experience than many of the Captains they fly with. There are thousand pilots that been furlough at least once and are stuck as FOs and we are still talking about paying the Captain 90K and the FO just 50K?

Why the huge difference? Because the CP signs that the airplane is airworthy? Believe me if it is not the FO will be ****ed as much as the captain. Why then? Because the Captain works more?, Believe me in 80% of the time that is not the case. Then Why? Because the Captain knows more and has more experience? Not always and at the regionals there is only so much experience you can get if you are 5-8 years in the same equipment, then what?

Yes because he is the Captain and the upgrade is based on seniority and that is based on timing and luck in your career not on quality, knowledge or integrity and the senior pilots dominates the union that divide the money the company is willing to pay for a crew, nothing else. My opinion after 18 years in the business, 1 bankrupcy and 2 furloughs? The FO should at least have 70% of the Captains pay when they both top out as in most reputable airlines.

Anything else is just unfair and greed and the huge difference is only seen at the Regional level. Yes I am weird, I am senior guy that cares about the guy at the bottom, some would call me traitor.