There were no beer and sandwiches. No one expected the meeting to go on through the night. There were no breaks for participants to huddle and confer and see how much ground they could give. There were no ashtrays. The participants knew what negotiations used to be like, but this was the new industrial reality. The unions were just glad to have any presence at all, surprised the company agreed to talks. Of course no one from the company talked to them. It had their AI run the meeting. The union just hoped their AI was up to the task.
