New York ? Baseball’s union could set a strike date Monday when its executive board meets in Chicago to evaluate the progress of labor talks.

The board held a telephone conference call Tuesday to discuss negotiations, where slow-but-steady progress is being made. Players seem reluctant to set a deadline that could trigger baseball’s ninth work stoppage since 1972.

But depending on negotiations the rest of this week, a strike date could be set at the Chicago meeting, according to lawyers familiar with the union’s deliberations, both speaking on condition of anonymity.

Negotiators for players and owners met twice Tuesday, spending most of their time discussing the owners’ proposals for debt regulation and new rules regarding the funding of deferred compensation.

They did not discuss the central issues: management’s proposals for increased revenue sharing and for a luxury tax that would slow the increase of player salaries.