The MOU was seniority neutral as footnote 11 states and from the Q&A in Phoenix. It did not eliminate the Nic as the 9th's ruling reflected.
The Nic and combined ops puts a nice little bow on it.
You know how much Claxon likes footnotes.
11 We could not agree more with the dissent that reversal of the district
court’s factual determinations requires a finding of clear error. But far from
“ignor[ing]” evidence that the majority of the West Pilots voted to ratify the MOU,
which the dissent contends we have done, see Dissent at 15 n.5, we have clearly
acknowledged it. See supra Part II.A. Rather, it is the dissent that draws an
inference from the facts that the district court did not; while the dissent contends
that “the fact that West Pilots overwhelmingly ratified the MOU suggests that
USAPA was not simply abandoning their interests,” Dissent at 13, the district court
found that the West Pilots voted in favor of the MOU because, “n general, the
West Pilots accepted USAPA’s oral and written representations that the MOU was
neutral.” See Addington, 2014 WL 321349, at *3.