That early onset flu tactic is neither as clever nor amusing as the Warwick teacher union seems to think.

All towns around should be most interested spectators to this sick-out charade since a contract won by one district typically becomes the base line for every community nearby.

Feigning insult that anyone would suggest that the rolling sick-out to hit one school after another might be deliberate, the union president declared, “It’s cold and flu season and not everybody has their flu shot … If somebody calls out sick, he or she is sick.”

Such whoppers, especially in light of revelations that teachers in some districts rack up startling numbers of sick days anyway, don’t do much for union credibility. Sadly though, the strategy has been at least partially successful.

Some parents and students, forced now to make up a missed day in June, are demanding that the school committee just give the teachers what they want — whatever that is.

That’s the main problem. Nobody except union and school committee knows what those demands are and the people who pay the bills are left in the dark.

Union says class size and working conditions are key issues.

Management says it’s really about pay and benefits.

And both sides say it’s all about fairness — either to hard-working, under-appreciated teachers or overburdened taxpayers.

There may be some benefit to secrecy early in the process as labor and management get a feel for what the other seeks. Advocates say it's a way to avoid the grandstanding and bad blood that come from trying to negotiate in public.

But the moment either side resorts to picket line, press release or sick-out, the people who pay the bills deserve to be let in on the details. If they really wanted people to see those numbers, both sides could simply agree to release them. There would be no unfair labor practice worries.

Without specifics, the public is in no position to decide who's being 'fair' and 'reasonable' in this dispute.