I have absolutely no problem with executives being well compensated. They should be! Executives (especially senior executives) have a tremendous amount of responsibility. It's sometimes a 24/7 job and certainly not a "park it and forget it" job like ours.

But there's a very important aspect of management that I think you're glossing over here. It's called "leadership." If you were in the military, you probably know something about that. Good leaders do not handsomely reward themselves while compensating their employees as if the company was on the verge of bankruptcy.

Lee Moak's "proactive engagement" has set expectations and set the tone that Delta pilots are okay with bankruptcy as a reset and do not expect restoration. This gives our management a pass to continue this paradigm with a clear conscience.

We need our representation to engage Delta management on this issue, not sweep it under the rug or walk on eggshells around it. By pointing out the dramatic increases in executive compensation compared to our continued bankruptcy reset compensation, we are simply illustrating a leadership shortcoming that management may not realize they have (because we've sent the wrong signal and set the wrong expectations with them).

It has nothing to do with envy or jealousy regarding what anyone else makes.