<<<They end up being the best paid pilots in the US. Poetic justice?>>>
Maybe so.
Keep in mind that all these years the Southwest pilots have asked for "industry average" wages and chose to not ask for a pension to undercut the majors, thus giving their company a cost advantage and rapid advancement to Captain.
The trend they set was one of the factors in many (soon most) airlines ending up without a pension, and they are becoming the high cost provider of pilot services. Are they ready to "carry the water" for the ones that did it before them?
Southwest does run a good and efficient airline, but the labour cost advantage is vanishing. The fuel hedges are also, so the playing field is leveling.
What does it mean? I do not have all the answers, but it seems like labour cost can only provide so much of cost reductions. At the large airlines the pilot pay has been cut up to 50%, in addition to retirements being nearly eliminated.
It gives me no joy to see the glee ( schadenfreude) from my fellow pilots on this subject. Lets hope for better times ahead. And for the brotherhood of aviators to materialize.