It's amazing to cast our minds back to 89 - and realise there was no internet (as a public utility), no email, no mobile phones (as we know the system now).
What a massive difference the internet alone would have made.
I am convinced that one of the greatest disadvantages the pilots and their union had, was their inability to disseminate their point of view. Their opponents had the biggest propoganda machine (Hawke Government) and publicity machine (Murdoch Media) available. The public were provided with a very one-sided storyline.
A point proven by the insistence of a previous poster that there was a 'strike'. The mis-information continues to this day. And, I guess in some way that's why the issue isn't dead and buried.