Bottom-bounce
Some of you guys really have missed the point here. We are at the bottom and from here on in it is about how low the water level can go.
Any form of endorsement training is employment related, otherwise why would you go through the drama of a command type rating on a transport category aircraft, for fun! So the employer requires that skill not the industry just that employer, that makes it their operating cost, not yours or mine. Once an industry standard there is no going back, so the offload of that cost to you the employee is complete, when and how it works through mainline QF is anybodies guess, but it will, QF is the standout now not the rest.
This is all not such a bad thing, if you fund the qualification, you own the skill, so its transferrable to other markets like overseas operators. The cost is an allowable outlay to earn income until the ATO says otherwise, so you reduce your tax and offset the cost. The issue is equity and access. If I come from a background where access to capital for education is not a reality, I have to generate surplus from my income, so it takes longer and may if you make other choices along the way, be impossible. That is inequitable.
EBAs and WPGs are here to stay, industry standards will provide a commencing platform for conditions but thats all, after all Cathay drivers are not working for a bowl of rice a day are they? Believe it or not there is a raft of quite established contract law which supports your interests vis a vis the employer as well. If your communal in orientation then the issue is how to fund the collective in using the Courts. Frankly, my interests are very much tied to the success or otherwise of my employer(s) so while I find the industry wide issues interesting, like every other driver I will look after my personal interest first and I am only interested in my company succeeding and surviving, not yours, are you going to be responsible if not? No of course not.
The Ryan Air case while illuminating is not binding on any Australian Court. If you think a return to the days of imposed costs via the IRC and awards, then you have paid no attention to where IR has gone and is going in Oz at the moment.
The issue is also one of choice, if you pay now for your further training you can actually perhaps make a better choice about what qualifications you would really spend money on. I found a HECS supported vocational course and that is the choice I have made in the face of paying for additional or more in aviation. Putting out more cash for a piloting ticket is a bad investment in myself. In the face of my departure in several years my employers will realise it may have been cheaper to fund the training investment themselves, but then I won't care.
Simple HuH!