Bmi regional did similar things when the third year of the agreed pay deal was due. First they let the union go through the motions as a time wasting exercise then after people placed ET claims they said they needed to make nearly a third of the pilots redundant. Then they forced the union to accept no third year increase for an undetermined period and two weeks later recruited new pilots because we were actually undercrewed.
Moral of the story: screw the management to the floor or they will forever screw you.