This is the union seniority system, the way it works. It sucks that the 8 year FO has to start over at year 1 pay at a different airline. The get in line system isn't going to change while you are still unionized.

Your best bet is to change smaller things within the system to make it more palatable. For example, would we even be having this discussion if year 1 pay was $50K? How do we get to that? Flattening of the payscales. No difference in pay (or slight) for a Captain and FO. Only longevity pays higher. Now airlines are motivated to make it a better place. They have to spend all the money on training etc.. only to have the FO bail after 1 year to airline B because it is slightly better. Airline B is doing a better job than airline A and its worth it to the FO to make a move because his pay will still be livable.

Another change in addition to flattening the scales is to keep your longevity pay while changing airlines. You still go to the bottom of the list seniority number wise, but your pay is not tied to your seniority number. I don't know how you get airlines to agree to this or what the logistics of how other unionized organizations do it.

But again, there are pluses and minus's to the union system. My wife recently changed jobs in the medical field. She was hired at a different hospital after 15 years at another hospital. She got a 3% raise to make the move, didn't have to start over. Sounds really good, but then again she is not afforded any true seniority, if there are layoffs she is probably the first to go because she is paid the most out of all her peers who do basically the same job but are younger and less experienced.