Salaries are big at SAA I admit that......if the local competition pilots could only stand together............you may find things somewhat different in Comair, Nationwide, 1Time etc.
The staff at the other airlines could go on strike for SAA style money, but the difference here that if the airline doesnt have it, it doesnt have it. At SAA, the begging bowl comes out and the taxpayer chips in.
I see NO difference between SAA's B738's and Comair's B734's, maybe a few extra windows. Ditto with the A319.
If SAA didnt have the magic begging bowl, its staff would have been the highest paid ex employees.