G'day Spider from Uzbekistan,
Your understanding is incorrect.
What happened a couple of years ago is that pilots on a valid and current AWA were denied their CPI rise because the company wanted to pressure them into signing a replacement AWA.
What is happening now, is that the company is offering a flat 2% p.a. pay increase, which can be topped up by cashing in other employment conditions, such as life insurance, loss of licence insurance, etc. to bolster the meagre 2%.
What this means is, that in a time of economic prosperity pilots employed by NJS are being pressured to give up the only mechanism that they have to maintain their spending power. The CPI has historically run at an average of 2.7% for many years now. Whilst CPI is not the true or sole measure of inflation, it's all we've got. If we accept the co's 2% offer, the only way we can go wage wise, is backwards.
It should also be noted, that in the history of the company there has not been a real pay rise for pilots, except some years ago, when DH8 captain's pay was slightly increased to make it just higher than a BAe146 F/O's pay. Our wage today, is essentially what it was when the company was founded circa '91 plus annual CPI movement. None of Hockey's touted real wage increases for us.
We're not asking for a real wage increase, all we want is to maintain the current, not unreasonable CPI increment.