Guvnor - I am a little puzzled at excactly what you think is proper compensation in any given profession.
Do we use third world countries as a base line? Do we use rate of inflation -
that is what United got (3.8% per year from 1993) and that is after taking a 23,8% CUT for 6 years?
If being competitive means getting paid less than your competitors we all will be looking at African/Russian/South-American salaries before long.
As for PanAm and Eastern - I think you know that their demise was caused by a multitude of factors - the least of which was pilot wages.
Look at TWA - they are among the lowest paid pilots of any sizable carrier.
I am continually astonished at how airline managers look to their employees to subsidize their poor management skills. And yes - those skills do matter. While the USA is being poo-poo'd for paying the pilots too much, the US ticket prices are on average much lower than, say, in Europe.....