A fair question Understated, and I have a feeling that the day is coming soon when ACPA must accept that mandatory retirement is a thing of the past. But one must also ask if any other union has had a group of its own members dining on the fruit from the poisonous tree (i.e. advancing as others retired at 60), only to complain that the fruit was poisonous when it came their turn to step away from the table. That, IMHO, is what is leaving so many people with a bad feeling about this issue. I understand that it may be irrelevant to the legal discussions, but it's completely relevant to the human beings that are being affected by it going forward.
It wouldn't matter if they were the most popular pilots in the company, whomever chose to take on this fight first was destined to be faced with the bad feelings that are now occurring.