That's a strawman. The contention is that the retention bonuses should be honored, because these payments are memorialized in written contracts, and the beneficiaries upheld their end of the deal. BUT, if AIG had declared bankruptcy, then those deals would be settled by a receiver. I'd wager that the workers would obtain something more than $1 for whatever time they had spend working, and something less than the full amount of the written agreement stipulated. As you noted, "fair is fair," and as fair as we can manage in bankruptcy.
Your argument goes in two directions, it seems. You are offended at what you see as Republic Window breaking a contract, but you aren't offended at AIG breaking a contract.
They need to put up or shut up. Either pay out the bonuses as agreed or go bankrupt and let the court tally up the remains and sort who gets how much of what they are owed.