GG, doesn't that comment concern you in the least? You're comparing the safety standards of company that has been around for a LOT longer than JQ, it's that really annoying phrase bean counters use at the start of a sentence "Statistically speaking..." which counts for nothing after that first incident which causes the statistics to now heavily swing back the other way!! Plus you really can twist statistics to say many many things that aren't necessarily true.
Maybe I'm naive, but I'd like to think that most in QF would be more than happy to accept increased "Efficiencies", whether this comes in the form of pay freezes, increases in the utilisation of hours available or having them move to JQ at the same pay rates that they get in QF.
Honestly I feel like the problem is coming from the Top though, they treat their staff like mushrooms, keeping them in the dark and feeding them s**t and just expect them to be good boys and girls and accept whatever is given to them, but human nature is not like that, they have to give the staff reason to trust them, they have to be more open and transparent and it very much seems like they aren't which creates a very resistive employee group. People do not like being kept in the dark, they don't enjoy the discomfort that comes from uncertain futures, things like announcing MONTHS in advancing that a 1000 staff will be cut but not releasing any real figures as to where this will come from is purely antagonistic.
I have no doubt there are major problems on both sides of the arguments, there are undoubtedly Pilots being selfish, personally I can't imagine what the heck I would do with $180,000/year let alone anything more, that would be AWESOME, so perhaps there needs to be a big wake up call to the Pilots to accept perhaps more realistic pay rates BUT at the same time the Management group has to be seen to be doing what needs to be done as well which would mean their own pay rates being adjusted by the same margins. Take the CEO of JAL who cut his own pay in half back in 2009 and I know the first thing someone will say is "Oh, but he didn't take his bonus..." Oh no, so you're telling me he will ONLY make 2 Million dollars this year?! what a travesty, how on earth will he manage to live on that?
At the moment it's all hack and slash, there doesn't appear to be any real revitalisation to Qantas Mainline only to Jetstar and it is a very obvious move to change things to a lower cost model and the staff are sick of being treated like idiots by management who continue to act like this isn't the case at all!! There is obviously no innovation within the Qantas Group at all, all we are seeing is a reduction in network size, a handing off of routes to JQ, getting cosy in bed with Emirates who will quite happily burn QF from the face of the earth if they get a chance and millions being wasted in overseas ventures which are dubious at best.
And to top it all off they make no real attempts to engage their workforce at all, they COULD make some kind of gesture to open a position for some real employees to be within the top level decision making group even if it just a token but they do not, they take no responsibility for past errors at all such as the APA Bid (oops, sorry everyone, we made a mistake but looks like we got away with it!) they offer no explanation for why when JQ was first started Dixon was stated as saying "he didn't think it would be more than 20% of the size of Qantas" and it now being closer to 60%. No explanation as to cross subsidisation of Jetstar (Shut up and stop asking seems to be the response) which others have come forth with evidence for, some of the LAMEs have shown that work done on Jetstar Aircraft was clearly paid for by Qantas Mainline. Then we have no explanation for a bunch of aircraft around the world which are sitting Idle, they cannot adequately explain the benefits of dividing the airline into two groups. No adequate explanation why they want the QSA lifted, they keep claiming they cannot compete with Virgins ability to raise money because they are limited to 49% Foreign Investment but cannot come forth with anyone that would be willing to spend money on them if this was lifted, they just keep leaving it to speculation and conveniently leave out the part where they aren't even close to that limit yet.
The whole thing is completely disgusting, the Management have created a completely toxic atmosphere that will only be cleared by them being more open and honest with their employees and the general public.
In a way I'm waiting for the QSA to be lifted, just out of sheer morbid curiosity to finally find out what they truly have planned for Qantas as I doubt it will be good for anyone except those at the top currently packing their golden parachutes, perhaps it'll finally be a wake up call to the public in general to stop their politicians just accepting the farces they produce.