I had to sigh when I read this article in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel on the draconian pay cuts Midwest Airlines is asking its employees to take in order to survive. Having worked at two airlines during turbulent times, I too faced the decision on what to do when management imposed pay cuts.
In the first case, I took a temporary cut at Mesa Air Group after the horror of 9/11, when airlines didn’t know how long it would take to recover from the week-long shutdown of the air system and travelers deciding to fly again. The second time found me swallowing hard as I took a pay cut at Delta Air Lines after the carrier filed for Ch. 11.
But these cuts were nothing compared to what Midwest is asking of its employees — pay cuts of up to 65% for union pilots and flight attendants to avoid filing for bankruptcy. And this is on top of grounding its MD80s — almost half the fleet — and laying off hundreds of workers.
I suspect the days of Midwest’s extraordinary service are over.