Surely the idea of a pay cut for the remaining workforce is the thin end of the wedge.
If the airline can operate with the reduced number of crews, what incentive will there be to re-instate the pay cut at a later date? Indeed, having presumably done the numbers, the airline can fly the services with the first suggested redundancies why will they not revert to these redundancies at a later stage increasing the savings?
IMHO, having agreed the 'rate for the job' it is always a retrograde step to then renegotiate a lower 'rate' to preserve numbers. The result will almost always be an increase in the workload for individuals, with at best rewards that are frozen.
Consider the idea of recruiting pilots at much lower rates of pay, eg BA regional rates, is this really the way forward or just a way of reducing the rate for the job?
Are there any other professions that consider reducing their rates to ensure that the number of practitioers remain at an artificially high level when compared to demand?
Which way is port?