With a merger agreement between Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines hanging in the balance, the highest stakes may have switched from management to the leaders of the two companies' pilot unions who have been unable to combine seniority lists. Northwest pilot chairman Dave Stevens and Delta pilot chairman Lee Moak both insisted that the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) be brought into merger talks at the front end of any deal. Now, after the two managements have included the pilots as partners and placed the fate of the merger into their hands, the union's proposed wage gains could vanish as quickly as it takes for the two boards to meet and decide to call off the deal.
See "Pilots in a position to make or break deal", Liz Fedor, Minneapolis Star Tribune, March 2, 2008