CN is not here to hand over the cash but he is and will carry out whatever his bosses say to carry out. The board and senior execs set the agenda.
They know the engineers are more united than ever before and I am fairly sure they dont want another
PR disaster like last time. It cost a lot of money and the engineers got what they wanted anyway to a large extent.
I am sure they (HR et al) will play hard, that is their job but I do believe the eba can be done better than before. Depends on what changes they wish to make and what needs to forced off the table before real negotiations take place.
No one wins when the airline loses business.