The USAPA victory is a very good thing for the East pilots. Every day that they can delay the implemenation of the NIC award is a victory. Guys will get the attrition based advancement that is rightfully theirs. Management will place new aircraft in the East as their costs are lower. That is what will finally force the West to come back to the bargaining table as they stagnate with low attrition and no growth.
This is pretty short-sighted thinking, IMHO. The market is immensely challenging right now, based on fuel costs and economics; delaying the inevitable and costing the company shedloads of money cannot be good. Maybe new aircraft would eventually move East, but that is a long ways away presently. Hated as the arbitration agreement is, it will form the basis of any new USAPA agreement, simply as the agreement has to start somewhere. They cannot force their (East) seniority idea down the company's and the West's guys without taking the whole enterprise down. But, then again, the East was, years ago (1985), as a bunch of UMW coal miners. That from a ALPA National guy, who had his own elitist ideas of the profession.
PS: If you think this story will end in tears, wait 'til you see DL/NW merger. The DL ALPA MEC and management seems to have written off the NW guys entirely. DL bought off their pilots and hope to co-opt or just ignore the NW guys. And, let me tell you, NW pilots will not back down on their threats of stopping the merger. NW will strike at anything-Cobra Airlines.