Getmeoutofga, i have an ATPL, why then doesn't Qantas give me a 747 command ?, or Virgin a 737 command.
If you can't see the reason why a pilot with an ATPL can't go out and directly become a 747 Captain for QANTAS, you'd be an idiot, how is this different.
For a 200 hour pilot to be given a job, there needs to be a Chief Pilot employed, in many many GA companies the CP does not fly enough to cover his/her wage via direct income, then on top of that engineering staff, office staff and spare parts. All of these people are generally not directly earning the money, ie moving people from point a to b.
Through our own over abundant willingness to stab each other in the back for a job and coupled with more pilots than jobs, it leaves us as the easiest to replace, therefore paid the least, until you prove yourself to be irreplacable.
No operator could possibly want to operate illegally or unsafely.