Yea but...at my regional, we laid off about 20% of our guys. Our guarantee is 72hr/month. After the furloughs, most of the FO lines still had an average of 80hr/month, with some as high as 87-90 hours. Additionally, they've been using recent Captain upgrades as FOs, and junior manning everyday.
So...maybe it would be a good idea to have a contract that says all lines will be reduced to the min guarantee before management can furlough. The main reason we got furloughed was so management could save the bucks on our health benefits, unemployment insurance, etc. They've been sucking dry the guys/gals who remained, junior manning some pilots for both FO and Captain duty depending on the day. That's the kind of crap that really pisses off a pilot group.
Yes, an event like 9/11 pretty much gives free reign to management "force majeure," but at least we could force their hand somewhat with language as I described above.