Here's my guess. The union (and perhaps even the company) will request release, and likely get it. This will start a 30-day cooling-off period, during which the real negotiations will be done. The agreement will be reached on about the 29th day of the cooling-off period. There is no perceived advantage to the company in caving in any earlier. Negotiations under the Railway Labor Act are settled then, and almost never prior to the deadline. The company could make a lot of good-will profit by settling earlier, but they aren't smart enough to realize that.
Look for the same thing to happen with the PHI negotiations which are scheduled to begin in just over a week.