Shovel,
I knew about a dozen AF pilots and we all got paid properly. Funny thing about bush operations is that if the pay is wrong then the revenue rate per MR hour take a bit of a hit - something called backcharter, and the owners know it.
"do we include fuel in trivial crap??" Yes we do, either out of a pump with a card, or a drum / isotank. Are you saying pilots have to buy their own fuel ?
"A companies workforce retention, (not detention), is a direct reflection of the company and how it is run." Yes, that and trivial stuff like your accumulation rate for single and twin time (tick as applicable). If they don't pay up you've got 7? years to use your log book, MR photocopies/pics, F+D records, trip sheets and dated contemporaneous records of conversation and emails as prima facie evidence for the FWO. Read the FW Act and the Award.
Geoffrey was actually one of the most normal owners I met in GA. The rest were a bunch of various fruitloops, airheads, thieves, pedophiles, and included one actual genuine siliconed up Penthouse Pet.
You even contradict your argument by stating, "gets revenue from single engine remote bases that don't cost anything.". Overhead fixed costs are SFA. Wages, MR time and fuel are direct variable costs and not base expenses.
Geoffrey still thought I was a traitor because I left to do other stuff but hey that's Geoffrey.