I left USAir(ways) in the mid 90's when I decided that I just couldn't see them (union and company) getting their act together. Before that, I did sit through countless MEC meetings and have no problem believing that a large part of this mess was brought on by themselves. I've never seen a more dysfunctional group of people.
Now, with that I also have to admit that I would have been placed in that group of pilots that was hired in the late 80's, yet was placed below pilots with less than 3 years with AWA. I just don't see the equity in that. While I don't think that DOH is the solution in this case, neither do I see the method of stapling a large group of pilots with many years of service to the bottom of the list as the solution.
The reality of the situation right now is that there is a large group of pilots who think that they have nothing left to lose. You can go on as long as you want about binding arbitration (and you do have a point, they did agree to the process) but that decision is an abject failure of the process for the very reason that it disadvantaged a large enough group that the entire company is now at risk.
If you added up the benefits and risks right now, the smart thing would be for both groups to get back together to fix this mess. From what I read from the AWA side, I don't think that is going to happen. They seem intent on insisting on the application of the award. If and when this thing does tank, they will also shoulder at least some of the blame as they had the means to avoid this and instead let it happen.