Originally Posted by
Flymeaway
Reducing MMG can significantly reduce labor costs to the company. There's a cost of overhead+unused MMG vs cost of downgrade+retraining. There's an argument to be made that if the expected demand reduction isn't expected to be super long term, then reducing MMG a bit can tilt that equation towards keeping more pilots. If it is going to be very long term, then the company will furlough and the reduced MMG may be a factor for reserves, so a month to month or snapback timeline is appropriate.
Short-term, no not across the board. They can't force it until 01 Oct., and even then it depends on contracts and BK judges. Some folks are taking voluntary MMG reductions (incentive lines, etc).
Mid-term, it might be a consideration if they are afraid it will cost more to furlough/recall if demand rebounds relatively soon (like 2021 vice 2025). However... it's going to be a very hard sell to any pilot who thinks he's furlough proof. The top 70%-ish probably have no interest in giving up a huge amount of pay for years just to keep juniors marginally employed... and you'd need 50%+1 vote to get it approved (few or zero unions still allow MEC's to sign off on pay cuts without putting it to the membership) And employers cannot force that on any union pilot group. Maybe OO, but it could be fought in court as a class-action (and would be IMO if you forced a pay cut on the top 30%).
Long-term (ie airlines think furloughs would be out for 2-3 years+) it's not happening. they will not carry the overhead even if unions agreed to it.