``The debtors cannot wait until a strike occurs to obtain injunctive relief because the harm caused by the potential strike activity cannot be undone,'' Northwest lawyer Gregory Petrick said yesterday in a court filing. Northwest seeks to prevent ``significant, potentially disastrous, and irreparable harm that would result from any strike activity,'' he said.

Northwest, the fifth-largest U.S. carrier, is trying to save $1.4 billion a year in labor costs to help it exit bankruptcy and repay creditors.

Baggage handlers vetoed a tentative contract in March, leading to more talks and a new agreement on which voting ends tomorrow.

Northwest said in its filing that if it doesn't meet its savings goal soon, it will have to reduce its schedule ``for the remaining summer months and lose additional millions of dollars in revenue.''

An agreement with pilots to save $358 million a year was contingent on other unions' approving concessions.

Attendants' Agreement

The flight attendants' agreement, approved March 1 by airline and union negotiators with the Professional Flight Attendants Association, would have saved Eagan, Minnesota-based Northwest $195 million a year. Besides cutting pay, the accord would have reduced benefits and changed work rules.

The union's executive board, a separate body from the negotiating committee, split on whether to recommend approval of the accord. Two recommended a no vote and one a yes vote. One member was undecided, and the president abstained.

The bankruptcy case is in Northwest Airlines Corp., 05- 17930, and the suit against the flight attendants is Northwest Airlines Corp. v. Professional Flight Attendants Association, 06- 1537, both U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York.

Source: Bloomberg