What Ellen is trying to say is management must to put on the golden handcuffs. That it would make too expensive to take a pay cut to go to a major airline and leave the life style they have become accustom to.
But this is not the whole enchilada. Some pilots would eat their arms out of the golden handcuffs to fly a 757 to Hawaii or a 747 anywhere. If it were all about money the regional would have an easy fix. But you could only understand this if you were a real pilot whose hands are not in a monkey trap.