The european airlines are going about it the right way. Treats the regular employees like crap. Cuts cost anyway possible. But they wont mess with the pilots. Like Ryan air banned their employees from charging their cell phones at work. They cancell most flights that arnt full, have been known to refuse to make arragments for passengers that have their flight cancelled(hotel). Advertise flying into a city, but the airport is nowhere near the city( Like their frankfurt service is to a airport 100km away, or Cophenhagen Denmark service that flies into SWEDEN) Like a company cant get any cheaper than that.
Yet their 737 captains make over 100,000 pounds a year(about 200,000 US). They actualy know the worth of their pilots.