Now, it's not important because it means that someone will be in the room pushing against an 18-game schedule, or for any other specific negotiating point.

A deal between the companies could be announced this week, the executives said, adding that minor negotiating points remained unresolved yesterday.

Replacement of such a high-ticket item, if necessary, would be a negotiating point on the sale price.

"My sense is that it's an anecdotal survey in part designed to accommodate the negotiating points of the teachers' union," Mr. Coles said.

By now, immortality is a negotiating point I'll probably have to relinquish.

From a negotiating point of view, this vastly complicated the picture, diplomats said.

The Assembly's proposal, coming three weeks before the April 1 budget deadline, is a negotiating point: it was made in the form of a nonbinding resolution.

He understands every negotiating point and everybody's vulnerability, and he makes as good a deal as anybody can make.

During 1994 negotiations between the owners and the players, a primary negotiating point was the owners' desire for a salary cap, which the union resisted.

Except for those of top executives, benefits are rarely a negotiating point during merger talks.