CatIII:
I understand the frustration of the leaders obtaining bonuses while the rank-and-file takes cuts. There is a valid argument that leaders should be the first to take a hit, but the problem is a seniority-based system
Many airline employees are a prisoner to an airline based on their longevity whereas management has lateral corporate mobility.
Whenever a company goes bankruptcy headhunters circle the headquarters as vultures looking to pick up managers and to move them to a company with higher pay/benefits and security.
Unfortunately, seniority based labor does not have the same option.
There is no question in my mind we do not want the management that go us into this situation and I am sure we all want the best possible people running our company.
I believe Dave Siegel makes an excellent point about using the bonus program to prevent brain drain. We need the best possible people making the best decisions possible to get us out of this mess. In my opinion we don not need second and third stringers running this place, we must have the first string otherwise this company will surely fail.
There is no time for mistakes, there is not time to train rookies, and we need to have the best. As the saying goes, you get what you pay for. Personally, I say give management the bonuses, keep the good guys, get us out of this mess, and help the company make as high as profits as possible, so we get bigger profit sharing checks or restricted stock capital gains.
Chip