I would disagree with the 2 points made by P2T2.
The J* pilots were not conned by their Pilot Council at all. They were told quite simply that the deal on offer was the best deal they had been able to negotiate. The JPC had sought better T&Cs but were unable to reach agreement with the Company. The Company put the EBA amendment to a vote of the pilots and the pilots voted it up. The JPC made no threats regarding an external crewing company. In fact the JPC (at that time) would have been happier to see the pilots reject the EBA amendment. The Company implied that a NO vote would see a greenfields international operation. Not the JPC. The pssibility of external crewing may have been the private opinion of individual members but the JPC did not put that up as a unified council position to the troups.
As to why the pilots themselves would vote it up. Many in the company at that time had lost jobs and careers when AN collapsed and had been dispersed throughout the world. They had come to J* on short term commands and prospects. Here was an opportunity to shore up their commands. Some already in J* (from Impulse days) saw an opportunity to fly larger aircraft on international operations. Something they would not otherwise have done. Just because a pilot does not get thru the selection process for QF does not mean he/she cannot fly, or do the job. They do however, get sick of being told they are not good enough and then expected to forego what they can get, in order to shore up the position of the very people jibing them for "not being good enough" whatever that means.
The J* pilots were not conned. They chose to vote up the EBA amendment.
Regarding point 2. It may be valid to a cerain extent however
VB have been around longer than J* and had an EBA before the Impulse people did. NJS have been around even longer with AWAs. Both of these set the standard benchmark before J*. Benchmarks of this nature do depend on supply and demand. There is no such thing as Industry Standard. That is easlly demonstrated by the large variations in T&Cs around the Asia Pacific region.
What dollar value does one put on living and working in Australia. I know some people who say $100,000.00 a year. Add that to the J* salary and it is not so shabby.
The AO argument falls flat in my view. It may be different to QF but still overall it is inferior. So before anybody puts down the J* people, in my opinion, No Qantas pilot should have taken a position with AO. Otherwise you are simply arguing degrees.
Also in my opinion, very few of the current QF pilots,
VB pilots, and J* pilots for that matter have actually fought for terms and conditions. Understandably that is a thing of the past. I sincerely doubt that if the positions had been reversed, that the outcome would have been any different.
The whole bleating from the QF pilots reminds me of the CX employment ban of a few years ago. While actively discouraging hopeful wannabies they were accepting promotions within created by the same vacancies they were banning over.
While not QF pilot bashing it does seem to me that group is the most vocal. This is understandable as they have the most to lose. I wonder if they had not splintered the pilot voice in this country many years ago would things be different now.