I think you answered your own question. From their perspective, getting us to sign a rushed TA for some measure of an inevitable raise in exchange for potentially huge foundational concessions is the reason for a quick deal. They want their concessions now. When times are bad they get concessions across the board including pay. When times are good they restore only a portion of the pay and get more concessions to pay for the pay. Now that's a winning game plan (from their point of view).