From the perspective of a DJ employee its a horrible position to be in. Inexcusable behaviour. Yes maybe there was a surplus of engineers years ago, alas its hard to strike any interest in people wanting to be LAME's etc.
Friends who are BNE engineers have been working on 767 by themselves with a handful of new trainees over the last 12 months to repair and maintain these aircraft.
More engineers = more qualified staff = more repairs and maintenance completed professionally.
The additional $$ the engineers would have reeped from the % raise has most probably been lost in the striking action which occurred. (Please hold your fire with the numbers im about to pull out) The difference of 1-2% from what QF was offering to the % unions asked for.
So the loss of that % increase seems not to the be issue but to have professional engineers (more than 1 per an aircraft) to ensure safety of the planes, passengers and the engineers liability.
I do hope DJ do not go down this track ever.
I wish the best for those guys in the midst of all the sh*t.