Grants Second Extension To Contract Decision

Keep at it. That's the message US Bankruptcy Court Judge Allan Gropper gave to negotiators for Northwest Airlines and its pilots and flight attendants unions Friday, postponing for a second time a ruling on whether Northwest can toss out its existing contracts with those unions.

Gropper is clearly hesitant to make such a ruling if it can possibly be avoided -- and one can understand why. Should Northwest be allowed to reject its current contracts with the unions, the airline would then be free to impose its own pay cuts and work rules -- a move that could provoke strikes that would likely cripple Northwest.

If a deal isn't reached -- and Northwest isn't allowed by the judge to force concessions upon its unions -- airline officials say the outcome will likely be the same. Goodbye, Northwest Airlines.

"While the company appreciates Judge Gropper giving the parties additional time to continue to reach consensual agreements, achieving the needed labor costs savings as soon as possible is critical to the success of Northwest Airlines, which is losing $3 million to $4 million dollars per day," Northwest spokesman Bill Mellon told The Associated Press.

The Northwest chapter of the Air Line Pilot's Association (ALPA) will complete its vote on a potential strike on Tuesday; The flight attendant strike vote ends March 6. Northwest has stated both potential strikes would be illegal, under the provisions of the Railway Labor Act.

While acknowledging some progress has been made in the negotiations, Mellon added "we really need to achieve our labor cost savings target as quickly as possible so that the airline can exit bankruptcy expeditiously. The company remains flexible on the methods our unions might use to reach their labor saving target."

The Professional Flight Attendants Association disputes that, however, saying that while the union has met the carrier's demand of $195 million in concessions, Northwest has not removed its demand to use more non-US, nonunion (and, thus, lower-paid) attendants in international flights.

Talks between all parties are expected to continue throughout the weekend in New York.

FMI: www.nwa.com, www.alpa.org, www.pfaa.org