The writing was on the wall for the demise of the 'union concept' many years ago, but of course not noticed much at the time.
With the new 'open borders' in the EU, it would be possible to simply replace the unionized pilots and hire new ones...in fact, this may well be the case...eventually.
Expensive in the short term, cost effective in the long, perhaps.
Terms and conditions?
Don't expect much improvement...and look no further than the 'other' Irish airline for confirmation
And then we have MOL in the wings, and with the latest ruling that he cannot be forced to sell his shares, expect more of his 'behind the scenes' manipulating, so quite frankly, the unionized pilots at Aer Lingus really don't stand all that much of a chance...and they can expect no help from the IAA either, as that agency is right and truly in managements pocket.
Sorry boys, the deck is stacked in the companies favor, like it or not.