I think you're pretty much right on the mark. As with any country a company has to prove that the imported labour cannot be sourced locally first. So when taking a clueless kid with zero hours experience and zero credentials then it's hard to justify hiring from outside your home country.
The HK Government introduced the Racial Discrimination Ordinance that (in part) stated companies cannot pay differently based on race. The CX AOA tried to use this to bring the local CX pilots' salaries up in line with the vast majority of the pilot body. The difference here being the Housing Allowance. So, in a year of record profits and under the direct design of "Capt" RH they did away completely with the Housing Allowance. CX reversed it. 59/60 of us who had been waiting up to 3.5 years turned it down. So they came back 2 months later with the present C-Scale housing allowance insult. Again, none of us accepted it & to this day very, very few with experience do. Then came the "i" (international) cadet scheme where instead of the CX cadetship being used for what it was intended to be for, they changed it to open the doors globally.
NB: as per the words of the DFO "Capt" RH: the cadetship is designed to promote aviation and the chance for local HK Chinese to become a pilot with CX (quote: presentation he gave back in 2008 regarding CX's cadetship). It was NEVER intended to be used for the purposes it was turned into.
And what did this fine upstanding whiter than white DFO pay himself in return? A >70% salary increase. What a guy! Take from the many to line his own pocket.
So, when all the guys with the experience turned it down and refuse to work for such an insulting salary they have to turn to the naive and ignorant who came running in droves.
We were told in the interview that CX pay the housing allowance as they firmly believe & acknowledge that expat pilots sacrifice a lot to leave their country of origin to relocate to HK to work for CX. As such they "deserve" to not suffer a loss of lifestyle and living conditions. Not my words, CX's!
Expats needed to gain 1000's of hours in GA, regional airlines or jet time (typically > 1000 hrs PIC as well to be competitive) just to interview for a SO position for CX. Local guys do not relocate overseas. They did not have to work 2 or 3 jobs to build their hours in a C210 in the middle of nowhere for years on end. They did not have to leave home at all. They too did not have to pay a cent for their flight training and qualifications. Hence the difference that the expat Housing Allowance was designed to reflect. And the Housing Allowance was factored to the cost of housing in HK to keep it net neutral. Unlike today's C-Scale insulting package which is not. So, when you become a very senior capt at CX and get your $36k HKD (which is what a B-Scale 3rd year pilot would get!) it'll be only worth, in REAL terms, perhaps $10k, i.e. what you started with!
CX paid amongst the best to attract the best qualified. Now scum like the above mentioned have bastardised the cadetship for a money grab, purely and simply.
A few years ago approximately 15-20 Line Training Capts resigned from the Tng Dept at CX as they refused the massive workload it took to train this new breed of iCadet hero. In the past they could cope when it was perhaps an 90:10 ratio of experienced pilots to local cadets joining CX as SOs. Now with the split more like 5:95 the workload and pressures are beyond exhaustive. Ask the vast majority of present day B-Scale pilots of the standards of iCadets. Scary does not even come close.
CX simply cannot pay everyone the same. They have created a monster of dozens and dozens of different contracts that has spiralled out of control. Just look at the basing issues.
Airlines like CX have no leg to stand on when crying poor and hence the need to lower pilot salaries as they did. They did so at a time of record profits, then giving themselves massive profit bonuses, giving themselves more bonuses for losing millions of USDs in hugely wrong fuel hedging, paying themselves massive bonuses for being caught price fixing (3 times in the past decade I think?) and the fines that ensued.... Those who know the history of CX could go on more. John Warham's book illustrates this perfectly.
Real EXPERIENCED pilots will go where their experience, credentials and integrity can be respected. If an airline offers a remuneration package that compensates for that then they'll go. By remuneration package I refer to it as more than cash. Training standards, job security, lifestyle and long term career satisfaction is also what I mean. CX offers none of that anymore.