Public perception and backing is everything! Just seeing history repeating itself from 1989 when Hawke and Ables got a very compliant media to demonise pilots as overpaid hobby farmers and such, eventually to the point where the general public hated the domestic pilots and applauded military and foreigners doing the job while heralding in a new low COS structure for that time.
So now we have a pre-emptive strike from the management, $300K, 75 hrs per month, low fares would be threatened, yada yada, with no public response from the AFAP ( that I know of ).
Those in Melbourne may be aware of a dispute with tram drivers stopping work this week and the TV networks giving both management and union representatives an opportunity to state their case, not so in this potential dispute with JQ pilots, just a one sided view.
IMHO the AFAP needs to demand an equal opportunity to point out the average earnings of all JQ pilots, Captains/FO/SO, that 75 hours a month flight time requires probably 120 a month duty time plus say 40 hours a month on standby/reserve, maybe up to 8 nights/days per month in some bacteria infected hotel room and all the other factors involved in obtaining and keeping a pilot licence.