In NZ you are either a "salary" earner or a "wage" earner. A salary earner is paid a part of their yearly salary every fortnight. A wage earner is paid for how many hours he/she has worked. If a wage earner worked 72 hours over the fortnight he/she will only be paid 72 hours at the rate he/she has agreed to in their contract. A salary earner could potentially work only 10 hours in a fortnight but still earn his full fortnightly salary.
If you are a salary earner in Jetconnect or Jetstar you are paid 1/26th of your yearly salary every fortnight. If you work in excess of 65 block hours per month you receive incentive pay per hour over and above your salary.
The chap in your story is a wage earner, in NZ it is totally different to a salary earner.
Fruet
So how do you argue that Jetconnect Jetstar pilots are salaried when they are paid additional pay when they fly more than a specified number of hours per duty cycle??
It's in the Jetconnect collective agreement and the Jetstar individual contract.
They don't receive more money per duty cycle but rather incentive pay over and above 65 block hours. So when you hear about Jetconnect/Jetstar pilots earning bugger all, their salary is based on 65hours of flying per month(about 12days work) It doesn't include incentive pay for block hours over 65 hours.
Jetconnect/Jetstar are not guaranteed a certain amount of hours per month.
I hope this clears things up a little Kelpie, cheers.