Northwest Airlines and the Professional Flight Attendants Assn. agreed to resume contract negotiations Wednesday after union members last week voted overwhelmingly to reject a tentative agreement between the airline and union negotiators (ATWOnline, June 7).

Shortly after the contract was rejected, NWA asked US Bankruptcy Court Judge Alan Gropper to permit it to impose a new contract on the flight attendants and also sought a temporary injunction to prevent cabin staff from striking. Yesterday the carrier agreed to stay its request for Section 1113 [c] relief until at least June 30 and in return "PFAA has promised to not strike for the same time period...after which the union must give the company a 15-day notice should a decision be made to reject this stipulation," the union said.

In a statement, Northwest noted that any new proposal "must meet the $195 million cost reductions target for our flight attendant group plus the necessary other relief, in an appropriate timeframe."