If "sick leave in line with our competitors is the goal" then that would imply that current sick leave use is in fact NOT in line with our competitors. Therefore abuse cannot be a "red herring" and is in fact a statistical outlier compared to other carriers.

Am I missing something? (I am not necessarily stating that sick leave abuse is rampant and a huge problem, only highlighting your own apparent doublespeak; perhaps I read too much into your statement).

p.s. Of course it could also be argued that we are the only carrier where pilots don't fly sick because we have no need to try to hoard unused sick time.