This is what the actual APA Pay proposal is:-
"The pay proposal presented by APA to AMR management is based on the concept of pay restoration. The initial pay rate adjustments incorporated in the proposal are
designed to restore the purchasing power pilots had in 1992, adjusted for inflation.
American Airlines pilot pay rates are slightly below the pay rates that were in effect in 1992. In the period 1992 through year-to-date 2007, the pilots of American
Airlines lost more than a third of their purchasing power as the cost of goods and services has increased in the same time frame.
During the same period, the top five “named executive officers” at AMR—those executives whose compensation is required to be reported in regulatory filings— have seen their income increase 469 percent, while the AMR CEO’s has seen an increase of 723 percent. The CEO’s purchasing power is now 560 percent of what it was in 1992.
While professional-level incomes generally increased between 1992 and 2007— defraying the effects of inflation—American Airlines pilot income has remained flat.
Moreover, our current pilot income trails pilot income at key competitors, typically by double-digit margins.
A more rewarding pilot contract is well within the means of the corporation. The company just reported its sixth consecutive profitable quarter in spite of a 277 percent increase in fuel costs since 1999. AMR's cash balance is at a historically high level and the company has paid down nearly $5 billion in debt over the last two years, reducing total debt by 40 percent.
Our initial pilot pay restoration proposal would increase the corporation's cost per available seat mile by less than half a cent, and would allow the company to retain a cost advantage over key competitors like Continental, Delta and USAirways.
AMR management has enjoyed massive increases in compensation and purchasing power over the last 15 years. In contrast, APA proposes a reasonable restoration to
levels of historical purchasing power in our next collective bargaining agreement."