Referees and the other "help"

It's pretty amazing when an obviously blown call on national TV that affects the psyche of football fans across America prompts the end of a strike which most felt would extend through the season.  The closest comparison I can think of is the air traffic controllers strike in 1981.  Reagan made a calculated decision to risk the lives of millions of air travelors to break the union.  Had a single plane crash in that time been traced back to replacement controllers, the political damage to the president would have been catastrophic.  The union movement would have been much stronger as workers saw the power of unity demonstrated and validated.  Instead, we witness the referees' union grow more powerful without adding any impetus to the movement.   In these two instances it is possible to draw a direct line between scabs and disaster.  Game outcomes are changed; planes crash.  Unfortunately, if teachers or auto workers strike, it is harder to quantify the damage done by replacements.  It is a quandry for the labor movement and it will not be resolved as long as their is an 8% unemployment rate.