That may be true.
But it saves your arse.
The facts of the matter are this.
If JQ did not exist within QF someone would have set it up. It would then not be protecting the high yield parent business but stealing business away. Qantas would be forced to compete or die.
With their high cost base (look at manpower costs v revenue as a % in annual report) the only way to compete successfully would have been to aggressively cut costs or bleed red ink.
One is business saving, the other is certain death.
Qantas adopted the strategy they did, which is a very good one IMHO, and were gifted the rates of pay by a naive and industrially raw group who had endured years of McGowen. Anything was better than that!
JQ has saved a lot of mainline QF jobs which would have been cut had QF attempted to directly compete with any new LCC.
I don't think there is anyone who thinks that the strategy adopted is bad, however there are a lot of people who are sick of JQ being used as a benchmark for future T&C's. Tightness in the employment market will determine whether or not the current T&C's on offer at JQ are in the ballpark.
AJ is naive in the extreme if his LCC model relies on one group of employees and their wages. What he fears is the flow on affect to other sections of the business but if he had the nouse he would be able to handle that with a simple supply and demand argument.
If I were a
VB pilot or a "Go Cat" one I would see JQ as more of a threat to my job than if I was at QF. JQ is there to protect the high yield business. Dixon has always been at pains to point out that the money in the business is made by the mainline product QF (see any investor presentation).
QF pilots, get over it. JQ pilots, get into 'em for a good increase in T&C's now. Strike whilst the iron is hot or you will never get another chance. The most important EBA for pilots in this country currently being negotiated is yours as it will determine the benchmark going forward for many many years. Good luck.