They can only lose? Don't think so.
It is simply a battle of wills, a contest to see who blinks first. The company knows that if the pilots blink first, they have won the war. They also know that if the pilots blink, there is unlikely to be another uprising for a very long time. Most growing companies know that at some point in their growth, they will have a face-off with some union or another, winning the encounter is critical to them. Of course, they could take the example of Southwest and not upset the crews in the first place!
The pilots simply have to decide whether they have the stomach for the fight, and the consequent knock-on effect to their mortgages. They will never get a massive rise, the most they can hope to do is claw back some of the losses endured in recent years.
Have to say though, this has been coming for a very long time...