As a QF driver I also agree with Keg on this one!
IMO it is better to have QF drivers in the seats than run the risk of the work going outside mainline - even if the conditions are relatively reduced.
Kaptin M - the thing about picking a fight with QF management is that its all in the timing. While George W has all his hardware parked around Iraq, any industrial action is a lost cause. If we waged industrial war at a time when the airline industry could go badly pear-shaped as soon as the bombs fall, it would be suicide. We would be crucified in the press and it would all be over. I think that the media is where the '89 battle was lost. The public at large still feel that we are all on million-dollar salaries and would not understand why industrial action was being carried out at such a sensitive time.
So I feel that the EBA will be settled soon and Australian Airlines will go on. No denying that the pilot body are not really happy at the moment being offered 3% while management get a 50% bonus - I think the turnout at the Special AIPA meeting would have reinforced that point. Let's save the fight for a time when we might win!