Management is driven by ego. They've thwarted Union drives in the past so they can do it again, at least in their minds. It sounds like this is more of a play to prospective pilots, getting "meat in the seat" so to speak. Skywest knows they're heavily weighted with 50 seaters, UAL just announced more 50 seaters being parked in 2016 as leases come up. Without a steady flow of new-hires due to stagnation as they park more airplanes Skywest will become less attractive during the RFP process.

Don't take my statements as a supporter of a "yes" vote, but without NMB/RLA it doesn't really matter, management can simply do what they feel is necessary.