Sounds like the same "damage mitigation" philosophy that led to Age 65 becoming an unequivocal disaster for everyone under 50.
Think of how much worse it would have been if ALPA had not seen to it that language preventing retroactivity was placed in the bill. How many more pilots would be getting furloughed today if thousands of 60-65 y/o pilots had demanded their seniority back? Language to prevent that was not in the original bill. ALPA had to work to make sure it was written.
The APA hard-line approach seems to have more historical success.
I have a hard time thinking of any APA successes. Name a few that have resulted from this so-called "hard-line" approach.