It's pretty obvious that there's more going on here than just wages. Any uplift the mechanics can realistically get from 23% already on the table will be eaten up in a few days of a strike.

My own experience is that there are three parties in play: the company, the union and the workers. Often the union and the workers are not aligned, which is likely the case here. The only party that has nothing to lose by a strike is the union executive/negotiators. The union has said the members "overwhelmingly" rejected the last wage offer with 97% voting against it. That is simply not a credible statement taken on its own. My read is that bad blood has developed between the union and the company, and the union is now trying to stick it to the company on a pretext that their members are on board. I doubt it.