Originally Posted by Costanza

Newguy, I guess you are finding out that the company, other pilots, the union, politicians, etc. have their own agendas and that you need to take care of your own house. They are not going to do it for you. The following somewhat cheesy quote comes to mind:

"The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It’s a very mean and nasty place and I don’t care how tough you are it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard ya hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done!” – Rocky Balboa"

To answer some of your questions.
-Contractual procedures for furlough are in the contract section 23. There isn't a lot of information from the company or union as no furloughs have been announced so what the point of putting a bunch of information out on it now.
-The company notifies by registered mail. There would have to be reduction bid. 30 days notice.
-To insulate from job loss go through your budget and trim everything you can and raise cash, sell stuff and raise cash. If you have a car payment sell it and drive a crappy airport car, etc.
-The main thing the CARES act has done is prevent furloughs until at least the end of Sept. This is a gift of many months to get your house in order. Hopefully a furlough won't happen but sometimes you just have to play defense and be ready. Maybe you have a non flying skill set you can work at for a while or you can work on one.

As far as criticizing your fellow pilots and how they treat junior pilots. This group took a 5% pay cut during the Gulf war to prevent furloughs. During the last round of furloughs they voted themselves an ALPA assessment to pick up the health insurance costs of pilots on furlough. The senior pilots have seen multiple downturns in their career. It will all be fine in the long run as most of them can tell you. Stay healthy and be nice to your wife if you are married. A divorce would be a much bigger financial hit than some time off.