I agree this will be the turning point. Labor has already played into Mgmt's hands by their charging regional pilots with the blame for a race to the bottom and "I've got mine attitude." How any legacy pilot can fathom that any loyalty exists with regional pilots after the buttwhipping that they got here and elsewhere is beyond me. First it was the Military/Civilian debates and "nepotism" of getting my guard buddy in. Then it was the shrill shrieks of "you're taking my flying," and finally you lowered the bar so that I cannot have mine at my carrier either.
All of these sound good to the accuser but they will not abide the coming economic storm. We had our bailout after 9/11 ($5B) and it still resulted in BK and mergers. That just postponed the inevitable. Mark my words, you ain't seen nothing yet. The pressure put on airlines to have a similar cost structure has just been ratcheted up by a factor of 3. 10 years and you won't recognize the place.