Have the powers that be figured out how they are doing this yet? Would taking the most senior cadets be possible (as they would be captains/C&Ts now?) or will they take people from across the board to try and balance things?
As far as anyone knows, they're still working that out. They appear to be getting closer to a solution and a process, according to the latest phone info session from last week.
What I have heard (another rumour of course) is that ALL eligible cadets will be given mainline seniority numbers (based on previous seniority) before any are placed into mainline. So a senior Qlink Captain placed into mainline in December this year wouldn't be junior to a junior Qlink FO placed into mainline in August. Again, another rumour, but seems to be a fair system to me (I'm not a cadet).
hestonfysh to clarify
Going Nowhere if I may...
If you join with minimum hours it is extremely unlikely you'd be a Captain in three years. If you joined with 1900 hours and an ATPL it would be unlikely but certainly possible that you could be a Captain within three years.
Once you're a Captain, then the 55% rate isn't applicable. You'd be paid as a "x-year" Captain on the relevant EBA scale.
DIVOSH!