It's quite impossible to agree with your notion, the salary increase would be insignificant to the overheads at best, again I will say, There's no such thing as a budget pilot, equal pay for equal service, and that equal service is those two/three people flying the same class aircraft as the other three main carriers.
The fairytale that pilots can jump between companies easily and effortlessly is just that, Jetstar will be the career job for a lot of these pilots and the current stance that the company is taking is unsustainable.
"If you don't like it leave policy" is again, dated and quite impossible to defend.