I disagree. One of two things could happen.

The company could bid a new contract today, using the foresight that pilot costs will go up by some number, say 10%. Then when they come into contract negotiations, they could eventually tell the pilots that their best and final offer is a 10% increase in costs because that is the rate that their new flying is based on. If costs increase more, it would be uneconomical to continue that new flying (which could result in furloughs, downgrades, etc...)

If they anticipate the pilot group will ask for an "industry leading" contract, they could assume this increase in cost to be so great that it may make AWAC uncompetitive for new flying. This could also cost the pilot group.