Again I’m not certain how quoting US rates and contracts is relevant?
I’ve said it elsewhere, and I’ll repeat, the US has;
- the 1500hr rule
- most if not all contracts have scope clauses
-government, policy, advocacy, and industry that values and nurtures Aviation and it’s associated industries
- and the US tends to protect their local labor by having a far more restrictive and measured immigration/skilled migrant programs that the relative free for all here.
Australia has none of of these things, and to add to that, CEOs can simply lock out employees/shut down a company if they don’t get their way industrially. This makes it almost impossible to achieve the kind of gains that US pilots are getting. Improvement is possible, but it tends to be far more incremental and usually limited in what can be achieved with each round of negotiation.
Most Qantas pilots are entrenched in the seniority system for well over a decade, they have husbands/ wives, families, own homes AND are on a pretty good wicket compared to many of their friends inside and outside aviation. There aren’t too many of them that would up and leave to the US (requiring resignation, mind you, not just leave without pay), unless it was straight into a Major (which isn’t happening), so the comparison is pointless.
Outside of the US I can think of no value proposition that beats QF mainline. Show me (oh and MY WIFE!) otherwise.