As soon as traffic started to drop off, it was agreed that airlines would not have to pay those fees owed from last year, so ANSPs across Europe are not getting the revenue they were expecting. There is a loan agreement now in place for Eurocontrol to pay up to 50% (I think - this is off the top of my head) of what was owed by airlines to ANSPs, and the remainder that was going to be paid this year is deferred to next year. ANSPs are hurting now.
Devil's advocate view is that, yes, while NATS senior management appear to have handled it poorly (i.e. why not give the union, say, a week's notice of withdrawing from the redundancy terms agreement?), if you were in charge what else could you have done? If you're trying to persuade the Govt. to prop you up, they sure as hell are going to ask what you've done as an organisation to try and put yourself in the best possible position in terms of financial viability.