The cal mec wants to do a lot of things but in this case the arbitrators will make that decision. The days of pierce running to Fred and upper management to do a work around are over. We have a JCBA, no matter how bad, and the arbitrators covering the seniority.
It's possible they finally realized how weak their position is and that may be the reason for the Salley "blast mail".
I initially thought Salley was acting to save pierce, but it looks like the cal mec is sacrificing Salley to save itself.