There are significant parallels between the airline and the US car manufacturing sector.
While one can complain about the level of remuneration of a CEO, the basic imbalance between the wage bill of the staff and the price a market will stand is quite clear. There is only one CEO but when tens of thousands of staff are paid a large percentage higher than the market rate, no company can survive.
In the Uk it is illegal to trade while insolvent and in the US a similar scheme exists which can be applied to 'going to go insolvent' if nothing is done.
Sad for the folks involved, but hardly a surprise, and hardly the fault of the management when the unions point blank refuse to accept market rate terms. Even the best CEO in the world, getting paid $1 can do nothing when a union would rather drive the company to bankruptcy than accept a reduction in salary for their members. We passengers don't want to pay more than we have to and that means the staff will have to accept different terms, or get another job.
A bit of contributory negligence on the part of the union leadership IMO.