Happyberks - Up yours matey! Just think about this. To get a licensed engineer from scratch, you'll need five years or so. An F/O will take 18 months minimum and a Captain, five years or so. Of the jobs you have mentioned, these are the only ones who are licensed (you forgot about ATC, Fire etc.). Cabin crew can be trained within three weeks or so which leaves the ground handling personnel. Legally, we don't need them. The reasons we use them is convenience and commercial cost. There's not a job there, except maybe driving the tug, that the flight crew can't do and haven't done at some time or another - without training! Egos - I think not. Maybe you just have a problem with them.
Arrogant LH pilots, I don't think so. They have been working for a solution for a while and it appears that their management have backed them into a corner, miss-judging their mood as they did so. I hope they reach a speedy settlement.
PM