Hi Lime,
The way I see it, is that it depends on the Collective Work Agreement which finished in Oct, I think.
If your contract is finished (technically), then they could simply offer you a new one as an FO, which is up to you to take or not as the case may be.
To 'downgrade' you on your present 'operating' contract would require terminating the contract as per the terms, and then offering you new terms.
I'm sure SPA is fighting this, but I'm not sure the result will be any different even if they can 'piggy back' the CLA onto the Aeropers one.
The arbitary decision to do it on seniority (ie anyone joining after summer '95) has upset a lot of the 'very' senior guys, so I'm sure this is not the last that we will hear about this.
BD