structurally Qantas' labour costs are not dissimilar to any large Australian Company. These would best be described as legacy conditions.
With Globalisation and liberalisation of trading between countries; overseas airlines that do not have OHS laws, Workers Compensation, Long Service Leave and a standard of living like Australia has have made in increasingly difficult to compete on cost
Qantas is not unlike any Australian company that finds it challenging to compete with lower cost imports. The wages are only high relative to competitors that in many cases do not compete with Qantas on a level playing field