Has French offered you the deal you wanted - to the letter?
If the answer is 'no', refuse the offer. This agreement suits nobody else but French and his managers who you all seem to despise so much.
The reason he has made this offer is because it suits him; it's as easy as that. Your company can afford to settle this and meet every demand you made but it appears that all French has had to do is wave a bit of money under the noses of a few and sound amenable on the SA; some of you think its Xmas.
There has been much bravado about strike action and that is what you should still be holding over French to get exactly what you want. If you give up on this, then all crediblity and any future negotiation with management will be laughed out of court.
Don't capitulate now. Have you noticed that Virgin settled on the back of planned strike action?