Shazz-zaam,The company does tend to act on impulse and then change their minds a few hours later.However,in this case I think they have been very clever.
As TBar said once we have given up the crew member a precedent has been made and they will do it again and again whenever they like."Sorry crew,We know we have made a huge profit but there is the usual slow down in forward bookings after Christmas so we will be reducing the crew by one on selected flights.
They have never replaced the crew they took off last time and given half a chance will keep on doing this latest trick to reduce the crew number.
Did the union explore all possibilities before agreeing to reduce the crew number or did they blink first in the latest game of chicken.
Also what happens if the first sector out of Sydney is light and continues to be for the next one as well but the return flights are full as the proverbial public school.Will they pax a crew member up to Singapore or LAX to make up the numbers?
I think agreeing to a lowering of the divisor during this economic mess would have been a better option but we all know the company has more far reaching objectives.