Adding two CPs may be necessary just to handle the logistics of all of the hotel rooms and transportation that will be needed to staff a portion of EWR out of IAH. If management knows this is going to be expensive on the front side, imagine how much money they are greedily thinking they will save on the back side "once they bust the union". The most money I'd ever made was when out of base flying was done without TDY staffing. Add 6 hours of round trip DH to every pairing you fly and you may have a hard time spending all the money. There are daily pairings being built that DH IAH pilots on both ends of a EWR-Europe trip now. Even at paltry CAL FO pay rates it adds up.

This decision needs to be challenged in court, in a jurisdiction other than Houston TX, if for no other reason than to test how the courts rule on union busting under the Obama administration.