In October, Northwest Airlines declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy and sought to renegotiate a collective bargaining agreement with the flight attendants’ union. The contract would need to be changed for Northwest to reorganize and try to save the company. After several months of negotiations, the union finally rejected a March 1 proposal. Northwest’s DIP asked the court to unilaterally enforce the terms of the rejected agreement because the union had failed to agree to reasonable terms.

CASE QUESTIONS

1. What is the name of the power that Northwest is asking the court to exercise?

2. What must the court find about the union’s rejection to permit unilateral enforcement?

3. Should it matter that Northwest easily reached agreements with both the pilots’ and mechanics’ unions?