Gordon etc et al,
Gross remuneration is not the issue, it is productivity, what you get for the labor $$ per hour.
The way the award and the regulations work in tandem here is what produces the world leading lack of productivity --- and world leading costs, as a result.
Remember, a few years ago, the group at Avalon who quit the ALAEA and joined TWU (I think it was) because they understood that the objections to multi-skilling was going to cost them their jobs.
No point in having a high paying award if you have no job.
Forget all the excuses about "economic fleet size" and various other justifications, the simple fact is that stratospheric net cost, largely attributable to the "on the ground" application of the regulations and the award is the prime reason heavy maintenance, including any third party contract maintenance, has left Australia, and tens of thousands of jobs have been lost.
Tootle pip!!
PS: Re UAL doing B747 work for Qantas --- remember when Qantas in Sydney was doing B747-100 heavy maintenance ( D checks) in Sydney for PanAm, including a really complex AD involving how the fuselage is attached to the center wing box --- a job that others said could not be done. That is, if the inspection revealed the defect, the aeroplane was scrap. Qantas ROS proved that there was a way of completing the necessary repair that others said was impossible. Sadly, all expertise that is long gone.