Some people have lost sight of a few very very simple truths:
Some people should maybe learn a bit more about the industry before knocking back what many are saying.
1. JQ and every other airline in the world are COMPANIES. The sole purpose of a company is to make money. You make money by increasing profits and reducing costs.
A simplifed view on things as is my fairly well known statement, you have to spend money to make money.
2. A company will reach a point where its unable to reduce costs any further because the employees will simply rebel and they will have a company with no staff or ineffective staff.
Reducing costs is something managers look at doing in the short term because their KPI's (and pay often!) are tied to it and they don't give a s*^t about the medium to long term because they know they will be gone by then. Have a read of some academic journals and studies. Plenty of case studies out there where reducing costs to try and improve the figures on the books had the opposite effect e.g. Delta early 90's, Continental pre Gordon Bethune. A longer term plan for costs savings is a very different kettle of fish.
3. A company can only run this sort of program as long as there are people there willing to take it up. So clearly there is a significant demand for this sort of program in order for it to exist in the first place
So if you and everyone else take a stand, all of a sudden there is no one willing to "take it up" and the company has no choice but to improve conditions!
Put yourselves back in the shoes you were in when you started your career in GA. If you were offered this program would you honestly have said not because of the same reasons your telling me that I should say no?
My take on Cadet schemes has changed significantly in recent times. I out and out despised them till seeing the guys coming out of them and realising that actually, they are alright guys just trying to make it and of that I have no problem. What I do have an issue with is signing up to a scheme that puts you on lower terms and conditions than the rest of the crew for doing the same job. Don't throw out the line about "it's about gaining experience." Bulls*^t! If the company wants to do something legitimate and fair it could look at putting in a lower tier payscale whilst you gain more experience but still keep you on an existing contract with the same terms and conditions as everyone else doing the same job. The fact they don't want to should speak volumes!