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Negotiators for Northwest Airlines and Delta Air Lines pilots have reached agreement with management on a labor contract, but that deal could be voted down by Northwest's pilot leaders unless the pilot groups can bridge major differences on integrating their seniority lists.

The talks on pilot seniority have produced little progress this week. The Northwest and Delta boards of directors are expected to meet today to discuss the overall merger.

But no imminent merger announcement is expected.

The Northwest Air Line Pilots Association executive council is scheduled to meet Thursday and Friday to weigh the merger issues. The leaders will consider the labor agreement, which includes pay, benefits and work rules, and they would like to examine an integrated seniority list.

Sources familiar with the thinking of the Northwest pilot group have indicated that some members of its executive council will not support the labor deal unless they also get a merged seniority list.

Although details of the new labor agreement have not been released to the rank and file, people familiar with the deal said that there would be substantial pay increases for the pilots.

The integration process is a complicated one, and pilots see it as intertwined with their new labor deal.

The pilot negotiators dealing with the topic have not publicly revealed their differences. Details of pilot integration have tremendous consequences for affected pilots.

For example, one pilot said, "You can be expecting your next promotion to a bigger airplane and a higher-paying position, and all of a sudden they jam 600 people in front of you."

Delta CEO Richard Anderson, who would be the top executive of the merged carrier, also wants to resolve the seniority list issue before he announces a Delta-Northwest merger deal, news sources said Tuesday.

Anderson, who served as a Northwest executive for 14 years, understands the complexities that were involved in merging the Northwest and Republic Airlines seniority lists from the 1986 merger. In that case, an arbitrator decided to erect a "fence" around the Northwest pilots, so their career paths could be protected over a 20-year period.

In a Saturday memo to Northwest pilots, Dave Stevens, a Northwest captain and union chairman, said there could be benefits to the "expedited seniority integration." That's what the Northwest and Delta pilot leaders have been trying to achieve. He said falling back on a "traditional merger arbitration" process could take years, during which "there would be no economic benefit such as pay raises and contract repair." However, he added, "we will not trade seniority for economic benefit."

When Northwest pilots convene for their meeting Thursday, one source said, they will be viewing their futures as centering around a "three-legged stool:" the contract terms, seniority integration and equity in the merged carrier. Without the seniority tied down, the stool is unbalanced, one observer said.

Getting the pilots' support is considered a crucial political step for selling the merger to regulators and lawmakers. The combination would have to receive clearance from the U.S. Justice Department, which would examine it from an antitrust perspective.

Members of Congress also will weigh in with their views.

U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., said she spoke with Delta's Anderson on Tuesday about the potential merger.

"He said they hadn't reached an agreement. They are continuing to work with the pilots," Klobuchar said. "He didn't give a set timetable, but he thought if there was an agreement that it would be within the next few days."

She reiterated her concern about the potential loss of jobs in a merger, although people familiar with the thinking of Delta executives have said that very few job cuts are planned.

Klobuchar released a Feb. 8 letter Tuesday that she received from Northwest CEO Doug Steenland and Anderson. In the letter, the pair said that merger "benefits would be achieved through service improvements and greater efficiency, not by fare increases, schedule reductions or layoffs."

They said the type of merger they would consider would "deliver significant benefits to consumers by maintaining and allowing existing hubs to grow, by optimizing the use of our combined fleet."

On Tuesday, U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., said, "Both companies have promised that the interests of Minnesota will be protected throughout the merger process, and I expect this commitment to be lived up to."

Northwest employs about 11,500 workers in Minnesota.

Liz Fedor • 612-673-7709