Unions should be disbanded. They were great back in the day when there was no legislation to protect the worker, but now we have so much and it's so easy to get hold of the info you need that the main reason for a union to exist (to protect its members) no longer works. They have too much power now, even these days, and I hate them with a passion.
This is a wider issue than just the incident you mention though Col. That's just utter stupidity, and any of the members who have an ounce of common sense would carry on working rather than strike.
Jo still goes into work when the teacher strikes are on, as she always votes no. No kids there of course, but she still gets stuff done like marking and classroom prep. She gets the odd funny look from her colleagues, but no-one actually calls her a scab or anything. Some random bloke did on SELOC though when I mentioned it over there, which made me chuckle The only reason she's a union member is in case a kid accuses her of touching them up, as the free legal stuff then comes in VERY handy as you can imagine.