Regarding the future
If we see a graph showing deck crew members versus time, it is like a countdown: 5, 4, 3, 2....
I seems as if they are planning a soft transition to 0:
It is 1.5, then 0.5, then 0. The trick is in the 1.5 to 0.5 step.
Regarding flying skills
In 320s there had been only a few catastrophic crashes. A great part of them occurred while handflying. I guess they think: No more hand flying, no more accidents. They probably accept the possibility of an accident due to lack of hand flying skills after a failure rendering automation useless as a good price.