Capt Sherm,
That ok for you to want to work for peanuts now. You saw the glory days, we haven't. I don't want to live in Vaucluse, how stupid is that, most of us now can't afford anything in the inner West or down in Melbourne area's like Brunswick, before you sprout off, have a look at the Domain online and see what the outer areas are worth, excess of $500-$600k and they need a reno maybe you have been in Korea or Singa's too long and just want to come home at any cost. You say if we don't like it we can leave, how about you stay in Asia and not accept below par conditions to fly the 787 so our conditions can improve.
I understand the arguments, some of what you say makes some sense, Lot's of jobs for everyone, QF's expansion strategy etc etc. But we can't also defy the fact that the way these airlines stay competitive is to lower conditions such as pay for you own endorsement (How many have you paid for, $30000 grand dents the down payment on the house in Vaucluse). You have cabin crew and pilots at Tiger now on AWA's that provide substandard conditions, Qf cabin crew on contract terms, and these people want to work and have a job, but its causes so much stress on family life and because they are on crap rostering systems. But on your rationale, they have a job. That is such an easy attitude to have when you lived in an era of high pay, great rostering protection, good crew meals, paid endorsements, no capital gains, university fee's paid for, and homes that were relatively cheaper than todays standards.
You say leave if you don't like it. Easy to say when you are the end of your career not at the start. If it all gets too hard for you, you just retire, yet I have a 20 plus years left in this game and if I see an opportunity to further my earning potential by taking advantage of a pilot shortage I will. And I think anyone who doesn't needs to dust off those free paid uni books and read ECO 101,102,103 again!