Up until this point, growth was helping Mesa fill classes.

Growth requires new pilots. Attracting new pilots, requires a competitive salary (bare minimum of $40+/hour) and a competive contract. Upgrades are coming down everywhere and some regionals are even hiring direct entry captains. It will take a new hire at least a year and a half to get the 1000 hours required to upgrade, and by that time you'd be eligible to upgrade or nearly eligible to upgrade almost anywhere in a couple years from now. Things will be moving very quickly everywhere due to mainline hiring. So, bottom line, the "upgrade carrot" will not work anymore. At least it won't work for the more informed newcomer.

So, if Mesa wants to grow, or even attract enough pilots to stay status quo with upcoming attrition, they will have to offer competitive salaries and a competitive contract, just like everyone else.

An uncompetitive TA like the one offered, can be the end of Mesa. For an airline to survive in today's environment you have to be able to attract AND retain, BOTH Captains and FO's. It takes both to fly the plane.

You can't fly planes without pilots. It's that simple.