I hear rumors that management wants the contract taken care of quickly. I hope so, because I've read here about how negotiations can go on for quite some time, in some cases years and years. I hope not, for everyone involved. Eventually that has a negative effect. I was jump seating on AirTran a while back before the whole SWA buyout and before AirTran had a new contract. After we pushed back from the gate, with engines running, the captain gave me the jump seat brief as he read the entire brief from the laminated sheet in a slow and methodical manner. He then asked me if I had any questions. Playing along I asked him a question to which he referred back to the laminated sheet and read the two paragraphs that addressed my question. I would not blame a fellow pilot who felt he was being taken advantage of for taking similar actions.