In return for what?
Not sure. I‘ll ask him next time we chat. My take would be:
Given we’re now in the early stages of the Aus pilot shortage, and there’s a well established and significant global shortage, and E3s to USA majors may soon be on the cards, and currently 40%+ pay rises in the states - I don’t think they’ll be chasing 3%/year 🤣
Management are so close to walking out at the end of the year with they’re bonuses after running the airline into the ground. Cash bonuses, share schemes, jacked up share price for an airline that has zero assets and about 12 efficient aircraft in a fleet of many hundreds. Everything is about short-term ramping up of the share price so they can leave with their own pockets full.
I’m sure they won’t want to get involved in a huge stoush with pilots. They will want to get it done so can they can quietly disappear into the night with their bags full of cash. There won’t be another airline shutdown as an industrial tool, because the board know the public are sick of their sh*t. They won’t risk their bonuses when the public disdain for Qantas is so high, nor would the government step in like they did last time.
The new engineer agreement shows what can be achieved. They received pay increments “in line with the wage agreement” BS so that management got their bonuses and could save face, but most of the engineers got huge pay increases through other avenues. We’re talking 20, 30, 40%.
That’s what it’s about at this point - management hell bent on getting personal bonuses. They’ll happily put through an agreement at the eleventh hour where pilots get a 30% increase in package … provided they can tell the board the new agreement is “in line with the wage freeze policy”.
It’s only once they’ve disappeared into the night with their own pockets full of money, to be sure to be sure, that the board and shareholders will realise they’ve been had.