OK, I know I shouldn't bite, and really this isn't having a go at anyone in particular - but....
If I, or I suspect many of us, recent joiners to BA had suspected that the CFE contract had the aforementioned wording in it then we may have fought a little harder for our corner. After 13 years of commercial flying, only 4 of which have been within BA, I for one would be mightily pissed off if some chap cutting his (or her) teeth on a wee ATR jobby kept their job ahead of me.
Ho hum! Words like ..stable door...horse... & bolted... spring to mind.
Was CFE really a merger? I thought you were taken over - with vastly improved pay scales - the worms are turning it seems.