As far as the decision to leave AFAP in 82 is concerned, only about 8% of the current pilot list were around then and the architect is long dead. It happened, in hindsight it can be argued that it was a retrograde step, but we are talking 23 years ago.
All the more reason to put the past behind you, admit that the decision to separate yourselves industrially from the rest of the pilots in the industry might have been "a retrograde step" (!) and seek, in the strongest possible terms, to undo that decision and
get back together, your "heroes" included...
In the short term, it doesn't matter one iota if pilots in one company are flying similar equipment for different pay and conditions. They can still be represented by one unified association if there's a will by the majority to have a unified association.
The important thing is to look to the future and do something to stop the rot that has so well and truly set in for everyone, (if to differing degrees), since 1989.
I think the biggest job will be convincing a large slab of the younger pilots that a union has a place in their lives. Too many of them don't understand that in large part, the only reason the job came to be something to aspire to was the hard slog put in by Dick Holt and the post WW2 generation of pilots to make the job into something worthwhile.