Voluntary retirement and early-out packages will go to U.S. hourly and salaried workers, Chief Executive Officer Richard Anderson said in a message to employees. Atlanta-based Delta hasn’t said how many jobs it needs to shed as it pares seating capacity as much as 8 percent more in 2009.

“To leave the capacity in the marketplace when there’s not demand is not in anybody’s best interest in the long run at Delta,” Anderson said in a message recorded on Dec. 5. “The economy is in tough shape. There’s no dispute.”

His comments expanded on Delta’s disclosure of the planned seating cuts on Dec. 2, when the Atlanta-based airline also said it would have “voluntary programs” to trim the payroll without specifying when they might start or what form they might take.

Enrollment will begin in January, and “we hope to get as many volunteers as we need,” Anderson said.

Delta used buyouts earlier this year to cut 4,000 jobs, or about 7.3 percent of the workforce before buying Northwest in October to become the world’s largest airline. Delta has said its fourth-quarter U.S. capacity will shrink by 13 percent. Northwest eliminated 2,500 jobs, or 8.1 percent of its payroll.

The Association of Flight Attendants union representing some 7,000 Northwest employees told Delta executives they won’t be attending a mid-December meeting with non-union Delta counterparts to discuss working toward a unified seniority list.

In response, a high-ranking Delta executive told employees in a memo this week that the flight attendants union was “dragging its feet” in helping resolve issues of seniority and union representation for flight attendants of both airlines. The executive also said Delta remains committed to reaching consensus on those issues sooner rather than later.

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Michael Campbell, Delta’s executive vice president of human resources and labor relations, in early November invited leaders of the flight attendants union to join 14 of Delta’s 12,000-plus attendants to look at ways to merge seniority lists. The union, however, declined to meet and filed a federal lawsuit against Delta, saying it wants to resolve the issue of union representation before talking seniority.

“We have an established seniority integration process in place within [the union],” union spokeswoman Corey Caldwell said Wednesday. “It’s simple: date of hire.”

In her Wednesday memo to Delta and Northwest flight attendants, Joanne Smith, Delta’s senior vice president of in-flight service, said time was of the essence.

“The faster we can fully integrate … the faster we will all be able to bid and fly all trips from our bases,” Smith said. “We are making terrific progress and there is still much to do, but resolving seniority integration is perhaps the No. 1 concern I hear from all flight attendants I speak with at both airlines.”

Smith said the company will work toward a “fair and equitable” seniority list, which could end up being date of hire. But Delta wants to discuss other factors as well, including employee training on specific aircraft.

It remains unclear what effect, if any, the union’s lawsuit will have on the seniority integration for the two groups of flight attendants, though a delay in integration is likely.

Either way, the attendants from both groups will face a unionization election within the next few months.

The National Mediation Board has received a request from the Air Line Pilots Association to consider Delta and Northwest as one carrier, a request that was supported by five other Northwest unions but not the flight attendants.

Once the board makes a positive determination, the flight attendants union would have two weeks to file for an election. Once the board approves that election, a voting period lasting at least a few weeks would open up.

Previous attempts to unionize the Delta attendants have failed, including one earlier this year in which not enough Delta attendants voted to make the results official. The union filed a complaint claiming interference by Delta, but that claim was dismissed by the mediation board.

Smith, the Delta executive, said she hopes for a swift resolution.

“We want to take this worry away from all of you and work to reach a consensus on a combined list as soon as possible,” she wrote in her memo.

Northwest Airlines flight attendants have been concerned about the loss of union representation (among other things) ever since the plans to merge Northwest and Delta were first announced. In a statement about the upcoming hearings in Minnesota, Patricia Friend, AFA-CWA International President, said, “We applaud the state of Minnesota on their continued commitment to evaluating the potential consequences of the merger on the state and citizens of the state. This merger has the potential to break the long standing commitments with Minnesota that has enabled Northwest Airlines to become a viable and successful merger partner, and it also threatens to break Northwest flight attendants’ contract and eliminate the union and destroy over 60 years of collective bargaining rights.”

Delta Air Lines flight attendants have never had union representation. Now that the merger is official, the combined the Delta-Northwest flight attendant group must vote to become members of AFA-CWA. According to the rules of the National Mediation Board (NMB), which oversees such representational elections, if less than 50 percent of Delta and Northwest flight attendants participate in the election, the NMB will declare that vote invalid and Northwest flight attendants will lose their contract.

“For over 60 years, Northwest flight attendants have had a direct relationship with their management through their union contract,” said Patricia Friend, AFA-CWA International President. “Delta believes contracts are good for CEO’s, Vice Presidents, Boards of Directors, corporate directors and management, but want to deny that same right to over 21,000 Northwest and Delta flight attendants.”

Union representation guidelines, interpreted by the National Mediation Board (NMB), state that because Delta flight attendants are not represented, the combined work group must vote to become members of AFA-CWA. If less than 50 percent of Delta and Northwest flight attendants participate in the election, the NMB will declare that vote invalid and Northwest flight attendants will lose their contract.

Earlier this year, Delta flight attendants voted to join a union for only the second time in their history. AFA-CWA received 99 percent of the vote, but because voter turnout fell short of the NMB’s arbitrary participation rate of over 50 percent, the election was voided. The union subsequently filed charges against Delta, alleging that the airline’s management illegally interfered with the union representation election.

The Northwest slight attendants will rally tomorrow, September 25, 2008 at 09:00 AM at the AXA Equitable Life Building, 787 7th Avenue in New York City, the Northwest Shareholder meeting venue.

The rally is scheduled to include remarks by prominent labor leaders such as AFA-CWA International President Patricia Friend, Northwest AFA-CWA President Kevin Griffin, CWA District Vice President Chris Shelton, IAM General Vice President Robert Roach, IAM District Lodge 143 President Stephen Gordon, and New York City Central Labor Council Executive Director Ed Ott.