In one embodiment, a method comprises a network device identifying, in a time slotted network allocated timeslots for exclusive control of data transmissions with at least a second network device, a first schedule of first timeslots allocated for transmission and reception of packets having a first priority and a second schedule of second timeslots allocated for transmission and reception of packets having a second priority lower than the first priority, the second schedule overlapping the first schedule; and the network device shifting the second schedule of timeslots, relative to the first schedule, by a slot-frame shift (SFS) interval that causes a corresponding listen-before-talk interval in each of the second timeslots to be initiated coincident with or after transmission is enabled for any packet having the first priority.