Well said MF.... and I agree, good airline Managers ARE worth their weight in Gold and its most definitely is a two way process. Ths historic 'us and them' scenario has to go between crews and management, which requires full open-ness and mutual trust and respect, which I think is the main cause of this dispute.
I think most of the crews AND the Union in this case are trying to get the balance that is needed, but they have been made promises by management, some of which have not been kept. It looks very much to me (from the outside) like a serious failure at HR level, otherwise things would never have got this far.