Here something that might help explain what's happening. Take a look at Ford and Volkswagen. It'so obvious the two would love to merge especially now that VW has bought out Navistar/International. But, they both know that it would never get past the U.S. and European antitrust regulators. So now they're going to design, build and market trucks and cars together stopping just short of a full merger.
Now look at Fat Freddy's situation. He needs to merge OPCO's , wants to merge OPCO's but not at the expense of losing his RLA exemption. So he's trying to do the same thing as Ford and VW with this cobbled together mess of trying to blend Express and Ground together stopping just short of a full and formal merger.
Now if he can muddle through, good for him. But if things get so bad that the entire house of cards starts collapsing he might have to undergo a full consolidation and take his chances with his RLA.