If companies can't afford to pay the award they should close shop. Before I joined GA I was an accountant for a large firm in Sydney and Melbourne so I must admit I do have a fair idea what makes a successful operator and what doesn't. What is clearly obvious to me is that 80% of the companies I have worked for would not survive in the real world. The only way they survive is in an artificial enviroment like GA where they don't pay the correct wage. Many GA companies are run so incompetently they survive by stealing employees wages and conditions.
The argument about companies starting many careers so it's ok to pay crap in my opinion is very tired and a load of b.s. It's a lot like Nike saying it is ok to pay foreign workers 60 cents an hour to make shoes and then beat their chests claiming " If it wasn't for us these people would starve"
Mainframe, in reply to your comments about Kmart, Coles-Myers etc your comments are quite incorrect.
All of these companies pay the award, superannuation, penalty rates, sick leave and pay for staff training. Think about it for a minute, the 15 year old kid nightfilling has better CoS then most guys flying aircraft in GA
I do agree with one point. And that is that some pilots may not be up to the task of operating an IFR charter straight from an IR course. However many accountants who joined the the firm I worked for staight from Uni were quite wet behind the ears also. These folk were simply given further training and taken under someones wing.
High wages and heaps of perks is certainly not sustainable in GA, however I don't believe it is too much to ask to pay the award. That is super, holiday pay and sick leave.
Aviation is a very sick industry in many aspects and I don't believe it will ever change. While there is people out there who are more than happy to work for extremely sub standard conditions it will remain as it is today. Third world standard.
If another 737 operator started up tomorrow paying 40k they would have people crawling over each other to get a gig, simply because it is a big improvement for many working in GA.