J.P.Balkenende you seem to be one of the many people who missed the actual reasons for this strike. It was caused by the unwillingness of management to adhere to previous agreements and to enter into talks. (I gave specific information on my sources for this in an earlier post - mainly the Irish Times). Aer Lingus said that they would only enter into talks if they could continue with aspects of their original Belfast proposal, so they rejected the offer of talks from IALPA.
oneworld22, am I to presume that your post immediately above is a considered position - or perhaps it is intended as a joke? You sound like someone who has read Chapater 1 of "The Stockmarket for Infants" and now knows how the world "really works"!! (If your analysis is serious I am not sure that there is much sense in trying to sort out the causes of this with you).
What each of us thinks abouit this dispute comes down to one simple issue - who do we think is being unreasonable and inflexible. On the basis of the evidence outlined in the papers it seems clear that management are completely determined to do what they want to do. It seems equally clear that IALPA reacted to this. (As did the people in the West of Ireland to the Shannon decision). What I would like to see or hear about is any evidence that clarifies who is causing the problem. So far the answer seems self-evident to me.