Crap.
I am public, I fly a lot and I definitlely give a tuppeny about the standard of the people flying the aircraft my arse is in. I will pay more to know this.
Scarbagjack, you are special - and in my (and everyone involved in the events of 1989-90)'s experience, there're aren't many like you out there. The punters in 1989-90 just wanted to get to where ever they were going - at the cheapest possible price - and didn't care who took them there. The Australian 'meedja' even made heroes of the scum (or pick your own preferred four letter word to describe them) who flocked out here in the early days for a well-paid working holiday bringing their own aircraft.
I agree with ALR to a degree - the companies are already cleverly skewing this - in the public's eye - into a 'fat cats protecting their cushy jobs' pay dispute. You need a professional
PR company to advise you. By all means push the safety and professionalism angles, (they're really all you've got), but don't expect Bruce & Brenda Bogan to buy it. All they want is to get to their destination as cheaply as possible.
Good luck to you all.