NWA Judge Delays Decision on Contracts

Northwest Airlines and its pilots and flight attendant unions have another week to hammer out new contracts.

The judge overseeing Northwest's bankruptcy decided Thursday to give the two sides until next Friday to reach deals on their own, a move supported by both the two unions and Northwest. The judge had been scheduled to decide by today whether to scrap the contracts.

Perhaps the airline is close to deals with the unions. It won't say. Or maybe Judge Allan Gropper figures he needs another week to prod Northwest and the unions into negotiated settlements.

"I believe it is a sign that the judge is really pressing the parties to get together on a deal so that he does not have to be Solomon,'' said George Singer, a bankruptcy attorney with Lindquist & Vennum in Minneapolis.

Northwest, which filed for bankruptcy protection in September, has asked Gropper to undo its contracts with pilots and flight attendants if it can't bargain new deals that provide hundreds of millions of dollars in annual savings.

The unions insist Northwest is squeezing them for more than it needs, and they are threatening to strike if the judge overturns their contracts. Both unions are conducting votes to authorize strikes. Pilots plan to wrap up their vote Feb. 28, flight attendants by March 6.

Northwest said it appreciates Gropper giving both sides more time to work out their differences and reach consensual agreements. It reports it is in daily talks with both unions.

If Gropper were to impose contracts at Northwest, he, the airline and unions could find themselves in uncharted territory, labor and legal experts say.

Imposed contracts might spark strikes that could be terminal for Northwest. Maybe the strikes would be legal. Maybe they wouldn't. Maybe it wouldn't matter to the workers.

Gropper also may be thinking about the lack of precedents for court-imposed contracts that actually have been put in force at an airline. They were threatened — but not implemented — at United Airlines and US Airways during those carriers' bankruptcies.

"The pilots would argue they're free to strike, and the airline would argue they legally couldn't," says John Remington, a professor of industrial relations at the University of Minnesota. "It's unclear. But the pilots are satisfied they could legally strike. And if they can't, they may do it anyway."

Martin J. Moylan can be reached at [email protected] or 651-228-5479.

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