Veruka Salt,
Were S/Os offered these F/O slots prior to CX hiring off the street?
The quick answer, NO.
DEFO(P) only have the conditions they are starting on due to the CX pilot body voting against COS07.
Had we voted for new DEFO(P) to join on COS07 you would have been starting on a salary much closer to Freighter pay. Now that would have been a paycut from your previous situation. It may have even changed you mind about joining.
Thanks to the CX pilot body we prevented that from happening to you & others joining as DEFO(P). You can now enjoy working on our current conditions.
However, under our current contract the only way for CX S/O's to take a DEFO(P) postion is to resign from CX. They will then be re-employed under DEFO(P) conditions on a base.
Problem is you lose all seniority in doing so. Rumour has it that this can be as many as 300 spots!! And for the final kick in the guts they even started behind new joiners employed off the street.
So, has this been fair for our current S/O's? No it hasn't!
In short, current S/O's (as well as most other CX pilots) stood up for DEFO(P) to have a better starting package. In return they are being thanked by having their upgrades delayed by these same DEFO(P) newly employed into CX.