You have to hear about and recognize/ascertain there is a problem before you can offer solutions.

"Trip parking" is a prime example. A small number of pilots used bidding cliques to subvert the system to their benefit and abrogate seniority. It had been going on several years before pilots/me started to catch on to the "shenanigans" and a subsequent contract reigned it in for the most part.

Seems like the OP and all pilots opining had no problem with the FMLA. The "problem" arises when getting a GS over the same footprint. Until the situation is known and understood, there is no way to decide whether what happened is "fair".

Maybe to assuage all parties, we speak hypothetically about the situation and get a contract guru to cite hypothetical possibilities as to what is kosher and what is not regarding the GS side of the equation.

JMHO