Touche Sir!
I believe I understand your point. Correct me if I'm wrong. You are saying Airlines have unions. Unions represent the pilots. Pilots vote on CBA's and therefore decide their salary. If this is your point, I agree.
However, I am not talking about a single company. I am talking about the industry. I understand that the industry is composed of the individual companies, thus the individual unions, but union votes at ExpressJet do not affect union votes at Envoy (at least not directly). My point is simply that we as pilots should not be penalized years of experience for moving to a better company or a company that offers a better QOL.