Wageslave,
You might not like the language, but it's what a lot of people will be thinking. In the past this action largely involved management pilots and cabin crew, volunteers who just want a change of scenery or those crawling the greasy pole. Invariably they are not the people who would ever envisage calling on help from a Union should it be required.
Yes it's a four letter word, and not a nice one. But if the contract had been reasonable in the first place, this wouldn't be happening.