All this talk about who has the ultimate authority to act ignores the fact that a punitive culture exists there. At the moment the boss is at war with the pilot union-the union is suing its own CEO for saying flying is easier than driving a car.
Right now there will be a team of henchmen listening to the CVR and ATC tapes, checking the FDR and examining the whole incident to see if the union member captain missed one single standard callout or missed one single micromanaged, overprescriptive procedure.
Then he will be able to go public and discredit them in order to deny their demand for a pay rise.