I would argue that QF pilots are not the benchmark – you are having yourself on if you believe that. The new IR Rules are the benchmark! Individual companies and their shareholders will decide appropriate wages with their employees after negotiation as the PM wants. Whether this is right or not is another matter. The QF Board initially recognised the opportunity to increase profit by the introduction of an airline named Jetstar with lower overheads to compete with LCCs like Virgin. This has added to increased profits for the QF group with primary beneficiaries being shareholders and customers who get reduced fares. At the bottom, some may argue are employees who may or may not receive salary increases.
The QF Board have now seen the opportunity to expand internationally with Jetstar at the expense of QF mainline and again at lower operating costs. It begs the question whether Jetstar will take over completely in the next 10 years and be renamed Qantas at a later date when what we now know as Qantas has folded. No ‘I’m not dreamn’. I wish I was. Some QF pilots may not want to accept what is happening, but this is the real world we live in now and it’s happening! A united body is the only way to prevent further deterioration of wages and conditions as a pilot.
A genuine yardstick for pay levels can only be achieved by ONE Union to negotiate on behalf of all pilots who fly jet aircraft and maybe regional aircraft. Otherwise, with the AFAP, AIPA, JPC, and other pilot councils negotiating separately for separate airlines, the situation will deteriorate further. The fallout is seen in the initial post to this thread where one body is being told not to interfere. The AFAP and AIPA must now become united and pilot councils in various organisations, incorporated into the new union.