Wino - I don't want to seem argumentative, but ...
1. Management in most public companies do not have vast latitude to be generous with corporate assets. Absent some contractual obligation, they would be made to walk the plank for simply handing out monies not somehow specifically obligated.
on the other hand,
2. Contracts can say just about anything the parties will agree to that is not clearly against the law. The way to make concessions in concert with economic reality and then win the ground back in better times is to make that plan a part of the concession deal. The negotiating problem is that management has tremendous leverage when cutting back for obvious necessity, but employees do not have similar leverage at any particular point in improving times - unless they precipitate a crisis by striking. So the gutsy thing to do now is insist on agreement terms which use some metrics of company performance to upgrade pay, etc when times grow better. Drawback to gutsy is that it tends to piss off the investors and bankers who are already fearful for their assets and who may have little more than moneychanger's concern for the company's survival.