I will bet that Skywest will draw up a entirely different contract for the Virgin painted props.
Another scenario is that they will actually shut down the entire F50 operation and fire all the F50 pilots. Then all these routes plus the east coast are replaced by the
VB painted turboprops flown by pilots on the new conditions. The F50 drivers will then have to reapply for the new contract. The F100 guys then remain operating the blue tailed F100s. Very clean and decisive.
If nobody was to apply for said positions ie T&Cs were not good enough, the operator would be forced to offer more. It's market forces at play. Nothing to do with weight/size/pax capacity etc
Not necessarily. REX proved this in recent history as they tried to employ foreign labour to solve their crewing problems. They got caught out because they didn't actually pay enough to qualify for the visas but goes to show where all this is heading.
If Australian pilot labour market gets dragged into an international labour market situation we will get crucified as there are many many countries who pay their pilots much lower than what Australian pilots currently enjoy.
Have a look at the average salary of pilots in South Africa, NZ, Fiji, Canada and the USA in comparison with what we get over here. If hypothetically every ozzie pilot refused to work for Jetstar all they need to do is go on a recruitment drive to a few countries and that will solve their problems. Not saying I agree with it, but just reality.
Have a look at the Spirit Airlines strike in the USA recently. 45K a year as a FO on a International A320 operation, 3 years of negotiation and still no pay rise.