A federal judge ruled today that Northwest flight attendants may not strike or take other actions to disrupt the carrier of the service until a final decision is made by the bankruptcy court. Northwest’s 7300 flight attendants, represented by the Association of Flight Attendants, promised to appeal the decision. In reaction to the decision, Northwest management released a statement, saying that “(It) allows our customers to continue to book Northwest Airlines with confidence… We [still] remain committed to negotiating a consensual agreement with our flight attendants.” Northwest attendants don’t have such a rosy outlook, as the union representing them maintains that there is “little point in sitting down again with Northwest… [as they've] twice rejected tentative agreements with the airline over pay cuts designed to save $195 million a year” because the concessions were too substantial. In legal terms, the conflict about whether to allow the Northwest flight attendants to implement CHAOS (Create Havoc Around Our System) is founded in the Railway Labor Act. The act requires both labor and management to be released from formal meditation before a strike can commence. In a statement, a representative of the Association of Flight Attendants said that this statute unfairly handicaps the union, as Northwest has effectively abandoned negotiation by imposing its terms unilaterally. Historically, debate over the Railway Labor Act is frequently a flash-point of contention in squabbles between labor and management, particularly in the commercial aviation industry. If Northwest management can reach an agreement with its flight attendants for the proposed sum, it will reach the target of labor savings of $1.4 billion needed to exit bankruptcy. As the anniversary of the declaration of bankruptcy by both Northwest and Delta Airlines nears, an exit would be welcome news for investors. Still, the question remains: how much will the unions concede for leaner legacy carriers to exit from the doldrums of bankruptcy?