The cause of the decline in profitability was only partly due to the company's debt; there was also airline deregulation in 1978, which caused the number of airlines in the United States to increase from 30 to nearly 100. Some of the newcomers offered unprofitable and unsustainable low prices to gain market share. In just the first three-quarters of 1984, Eastern lost $128 million. Borman negotiated an agreement with the Airline Pilots' Association (ALPA) for a 22 percent pay cut, while the International Association of Machinists (IAM) and the Transport Workers Union (TWU) (representing the flight attendants) accepted an 18 percent cut. Employees were nominally compensated with grants of company stock, but its value declined from $60 a share in 1966 to $6 a share in 1983.