OMG! I should have made the connection long ago!
You guys are the victims of a FUD campaign. It's a computer industry marketing term. It stands for "Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt" and it has been used by generations of computer marketing types to herd their customers in the direction they want them to go.
I was wrong to think you are simply getting the "We'll all be rooned" line from Mr. Dixon. It's more than that, it's a deliberate campaign to destabilise the pilots as a group to ensure that they are incapable of any collective action and decison making.
Fear - as in will I have a job? Get promoted? Will the Jetstar guys take my job?
Uncertainty - If we take action we don't know where it will lead. What if I decide not to pay for a rating? What if I complain?
Doubt - What if Qantas is telling the truth?
The whole process is designed to make you totally risk averse so that you will do anything the company says.
I have been wondering for some time about whether management would deliberately destabilise its workforce or was just inept. I guess the letter home demonstrates that its a deliberate FUD campaign. You guys seem to be constantly the target of rumours and what appear to be petty decision making (or non decision making). Same with the engineers. These rumours, stories and so on are deliberately planted.
At the same time an appeal is made to follow your union leadership, because it is "responsible" (translate - risk averse).
Translation: divide and rule and scare the crap out of you.
Please look up the term on the internet although it mostly relates to computers.
You may say "so what"? Well at least you can put a name to it. You also know the antidote to FUD - truth, although its sometimes hard to find.