Originally Posted by
Check Essential
Just a quick comment about "openers" being made public.
Doing that is a recent phenomenon that has been brought about by popular demand. The whole exercise is more about public relations than about negotiations.
There's the actual negotiations and then there's the public "openers".
The two things are nearly unrelated these days.
If either side decides to publish something you can be sure it will be a meaningless document. If you're expecting to see detailed negotiating positions you are going to be deeply disappointed.
ie => DALPA will open for "substantial improvements to pay and benefits".
They're not going to publish numbers.
It will be clear early on whether the company is serious about an early contract. I'm not too concerned about specifics but if we get an email every week saying "sections x, y, and z are finished,progress is being made on sections a, b, and c and there are three negotiating sessions scheduled over the weekend", I'd take that as a good sign that the company is interested in what they have stated they are interested in.
There's an argument to be made that releasing detailed openers would increase unity. I supposed the alternative argument is you don't want to see how the sausage is made but I tend to favor transparency. I won't get wrapped around the axle either way.