Here we go again.

A trial resumes May 15 in New York to determine whether Northwest Airlines gets bankruptcy court permission to throw out the union contracts covering its ground workers. Approval to "abrogate" the contracts would allow the airline to impose whatever cuts in jobs, wages, benefits and working conditions it wants.

The long lead time gives both sides yet another chance to reach a voluntary settlement, said Bobby DePace, president of Machinists Air Transport District 143. Nonetheless, with pilots and flight attendants voting this month on proposed settlements of their own, "the company doesn't seem to be in a rush" to resume negotiations, DePace said.

He expects negotiators ? who have been attempting to bargain a new contract for three years ? to exchange proposals but not necessarily to sit down to hammer out a revised agreement.

Loose ends delay signing. Nearly 5,700 stock clerks, baggage handlers, ramp workers and technicians rejected Northwest?s offer last month. The airline's proposal included wage cuts of 11.5 percent, significant reductions in benefits and work rules, and significant job cuts. However, two other groups of Machinists workers ratified a nearly identical proposal ? in part because the pay cut is less than the 19 percent cut that bankruptcy judge Allan Gropper imposed on the workers last November.

But those workers who voted to accept the contracts ? more than 7,700 reservations agents, customer service agents, clerical support staff and skycaps ? still don't have their contracts signed, meaning they're still working under court-imposed conditions.

The delay is the result of union and airline negotiators trying to clarify what some of the language they agreed to actually means. "It always happens," DePace said. "You can't think of every scenario. That's mostly what it's about."

Meanwhile, pilots were scheduled to vote April 6 through May 3 on a proposal that would lock in $612 million in concessions, including pay cuts of 38.9 percent and the loss of 200 additional jobs. Flight attendants are voting through April 27 on a proposal that gives the airline $195 million in concessions, including pay cuts in excess of 20 percent.

Northwest says it needs to cut labor costs by 37 percent, or $1.4 billion. The airline reported last month that it lost $2.6 billion in 2005.

Adapted from The Union Advocate, the official newspaper of the St. Paul Trades and Labor Assembly. E-mail The Advocate at: advocate@stpaulunions.org