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F9 pilots face a very uncertain future as part of Republic Air Holdings. From the many former RAH pilots who I have talked to who are now here at SWA, this is what they are looking at; parking their Airbuses and transitioning to EMB-190, which involves a pay cut, prob around $70 an hour for Caps, 35 for FO's, lots of furloughs as RAH eliminates unprofitable routes, many captains perhaps losing their left seat as the F9 route structure shrinks, no 401k, much worse career expectation as a member of RAH.
So compare that with the fact that at SWA they would have had their pay maintained at Pre-Concessionary rates, albeit at the bottom of the SWA seniority list, 401k, Profit Sharing (assuming we are profitable), and no furloughs (maybe?) They are looking at a 50% pay cut, versus at least a 10% pay raise-for captains, and up to 30% payraise (minimum) for the FO's, so yeah, a lot of us here at SWA were puzzled by their intransigence.
I wasn't in the room for negotiations, but reading between the lines, I think that the F9 guys were making a very big bet. I think that they believed that SWA wanted F9 so bad that they would remove the labor contingencies, and lacking an agreement between SWA and F9 pilots, the process would eventually lead to arbitration, where in all likelihood, they would do better than a staple.
Honestly, I wish them luck with RAH. These days, I think we all need it.