There will never be a better time than now to go for the throat. With a weak labor government totally beholden to the unions, you guys need to press your reps for industrial action asap. If you miss this opportunity and the Coalition is returned, then who knows when the next chance will come. As far as i understand it, you don't need to wait for the vote, if the Company is deemed to be stalling, time wasting or just generally not being realistic, then a ballot can be held for industrial action. Hell, at this point i would find any excuse just to hold a ballot and scare the crap out of Hardlicker and Bain.
The main problem here in the Galapagos is that everyone thinks that airfares should be cheaper than their Uber ride to the aiport. If they don't want to pay for the service then F*** em, let them drive. There is a worldwide shortage of pilots that has no obvious soluition, there will never be a better time to try and drag Australian conditions back to somewhere on par with the rest of the world.
Just remember, it won't come easy. More money only comes from two things, supply not meeting demand and/or industrial action. At the moment the first condition exists, you need to create the second one.
I'm sure you're aware that the STOP/GO people in Melbourne are on $130k plus! As a previous poster said, get your TWU rep to really start rattling some cages and behave more like crane drivers and less like shop assistants.