Delta Air Lines’ pilots union used in-house counsel for advice on its tentative agreement with Northwest Airlines’ pilots on merging their two unions, according to a union spokeswoman.
Kelly Regus, the spokeswoman, declined to provide the names of the union’s in-house attorneys. Two attorneys listed in the State Bar of Georgia directory as Delta Air Line Pilots Association employees, Andrew Eric Brenner and Gordon Joseph Rose, did not return calls and emails seeking comment. Regus said that Brenner and Rose did not work on the agreement with Northwest.
Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz partners Stephanie J. Seligman and Lawrence S. Makow in New York have been lead corporate counsel to Delta Air Lines’ management on the Northwest acquisition. The two Wachtell Lipton lawyers also have been trying to nudge the Delta pilots and Northwest pilots toward reaching a deal on merging their unions, The Am Law Daily blog reported Thursday.
In April Delta agreed to acquire Northwest for $3.63 billion. As part of the deal, Delta gave its pilots an equity stake in the new company. No such deal was consummated with Northwest's pilots. Although the Delta and Northwest pilots had not agreed on how to merge their seniority lists in April, Delta and Northwest executives decided to proceed with their merger anyway.
The tentative joint contract with Delta and Northwest pilots announced this week clears the way for relatively smoother sailing if the two airlines receive regulatory clearance for their merger later this year.