US had their main focus of the merger as being as cheap as possible. They didn't want to give anyone a raise at all, but they wanted to throw everyone under a contract that was forced onto workers in bankruptcy.
Delta's sole goal is the make sure that the all the employees remain non-union and they are doing everything in their power to make sure that the whole airline stays non-union. The NW/DL merger won't be pretty even if it is a shorter time to complere than that US merger.
The pilots agreed to a pay increase and agreed to arbitrate their seniority. It sucks because instead of a strict seniorty like NW pilots wanted, seniority is based on the type of A/C that you flew. Both airlines have different A/C types except for the 757s.
NW has some DC9s that are going out of business so those pilots are going to get screwed. No one knows how the pilots will react to this. EVen though they have an agreement things most likely won't go smoothly.
It will be interesting to seeif they do have a union at DL/NW. The workers will need it since DL contracts out more of their ramp stations than any other airline out there.
The NW/DL merger might happen quicker than the US/HP merger, but the NW/DL merger will still have a lot of problems. And if they go union then it will take a long time to get a contract worked out for workers at both airlines.