Are you sure that is the case? I'm hearing the unionised, increasingly militant (itself a sad, sad, sad outcome of how badly this is being managed) view, but that hasn't been shared with me. Rather, I'm hearing that the TUs were as surprised by the move as others were. The last comms I saw from United was actually mentioning Qatar Airways and how Al Baker was ready to add more resources quoted as proof of how the situation wasn't as dire. Which to my mind is exceedingly stupid and short-sighted from the TUs: QR and Al Baker have a list of fans, on this forum, as long as Kareem Abdul Jabbar is tall, but they're both a threat in my mind. Al Baker is notorious for having said things that are completely opposite to a safe airline culture, and respect for the workers in Qatar Airways is, shall we say, sketchy. Being happy if Al Baker (who by the way was asking his own government for cash, so how can he invest in IAG?) increases its already huge stake in IAG is like being in Jurassic Park and being happy because the velociraptor that was about to eat you had been chomped to bits by a T-Rex.