I could see a "pass through costs" being set up by the majors.
70-80 seats rj pilots are put on salary across the board.
FOs get $65000
Captains $125000
It doesn't matter how much or little you fly, junior guys get run about 100 hours a month and seniority buys the 70-80 hour lines.

So pilot compensation is pulled out of the rfp but all the other overhead variables apply. That is the only way a major could insure that while paying more for a contract, the contractor will actually use the money to attract applicants.
A c+ scale is cheaper than an A scale, plus frequency is still intact.

Just a possibility.