Well said!  

'It's unfortunate that we work in an industry where people will crawl over other people for what is, by design, a menial job."

You are what you do.

If you see yourself as just one of the herd, you will be so. You'll work whatever field the 'massa' puts you in and take whatever he he deigns to give. 

I will bet that you see yourself as comptitive in a field of equals dealing with equals. That's wrong.

What does your contract say? Oh, you don't have one? You are paid whatever your employer feela like paying you on payday. There is no 'contract' for an at will employee. By that definition, each and every pay period is whatever 'the man' says it is. 

There can come a time that 'the man' won't pay or won't pay as expected. Yes, you can move on and find another situation, it won't make a difference long term. Tht 'contract' is entirely one sided except that you drag all your competitors down to the level you just left.

Or maybe it won't and job will change to a nore favorable term after you leave. I think that's a pyrhic victory, you lose for someone else's gain  You're not dealing from a situation of eqality, you have no documented contract, everybody in the field loses every time that happens.

If everybody loses because 'everybody' has no real negotiating power, perhaps 'everybody' can win if they unite to negotiate.  Example: when Rocky pilots organized all the pilots in my market profited whether they were RMH or not their compensation was adjusted to compete. In the end, AMC, with union pilots bought Rocky before the company expanded in my market, Yes, jobs were lost locally. Then the company expanded the number of bases and pilot jobs in the state.

There are weaknesses in organizing contracts, Everybody, or at least the majority of the pilots support the contract and then accept the situation created and rekax, often failing to support other members in their disputes, expecting the 'the union' will take care of everything. The company will the attack the members one by one, especially anybody active in the organizing effort. They will single them out, punish them, fire them for common compromises everbody makes.