Hey EVYjet...we have a friend in common...SR in Sth Korea. He said you had knocked the job back but he didn't say what you were going to do instead! I quite like visiting the sandpit but have to say I don't think I could live there for long so I can't blame you guys for seeking greener pastures! Plus it would be hard to go back from 4bars to 2!
Truckmasters
In the DEFO deal(that was voted down) I think the company weren't allowed to put any DEFOs in HKG for a few years. So without the deal they can do it anytime. The savings are to be had on basings...no housing, no education etc. Back in 99 a few management guys did some number crunching and worked out that it took about 2 years for an SO to make up in salary/housing etc what he cost in then subsequentely being upgraded to FO versus a DEFO. So with 3-4 years as an SO the company saves lots.
BUT....for the forseeable future it is capacity constrained in the training department. So obviously an FO for 10years takes less training than an SO for 4 followed by FO for 6. So I believe they are going to do the oz trips with 2FOs and any other trips they can. Ideally we would have no SOs but apparently there are not enough landings available to keep that many FOs current.
So to answer your question, yes they can and no they aren't breaking any agreement. They will have to pay bypass pay to any eligible SO. Now what exactly defines eligible nowadays is beyond me. If there are say 50DEFOs then there should be 50 SOs on bypass pay in HKG...assuming they are all 'eligible'!