Nikki,
I am a QF B767 FO. Were I to move to EK, EH, QR (these are where most Q pilots on LWOP have gone), I would be receiving more in the hand than I currently do. The money is on par with what QF A330 crews receieve. On top of my net pay, do not forget that QF must also pay payroll tax and my income tax comes out of this as well. The B744 and A380 crews earn more than that and I have always been a fan of fleet pay.
The problems Qantas are currently experiencing are multifaceted, but include an old inefficient fleet (other airlines can depreciate their fleet a lot faster - this is what I believe AJ should have been singing and dancing about for the last few weeks), outdated work practices (remember that LH tech crew have been 'determined' rather than negotiated and AIPA told the company that 'everything was on the table' in order to keep QF crews flying QF aircraft), staff : airframe oversupply (QF has come a long way since privatisation, but still has a long way to go to free itself of the public service mentality), some highly intense competition that doesn't need to make a profit (I do not include VA here) and finally an incompetent CEO and board who have a universally flawed strategy.
It is this last point that Qantas needs to fix with haste. Staff pay is an easy target for people here on PPrune because you'll always get someone to bite back but the reality is that crew wages are a relatively small component of costs. Reducing wages would provide a small saving, but in the grand scheme of things there are much bigger savings available elsewhere.
I do not believe that QF is in dire circumstances. I do believe, as do the vast majority of crew at speak with, that we can be more efficient, but that relies on both sides negotiating rather than stonewalling. QF are not the first company to flag a loss of this size, and certainly won't be the last. There are a lot of 'levers they can pull' to return to profitability, but posting a loss at this stage of the game certainly helps the propaganda war with Canberra.