MINNEAPOLIS - Mesaba Aviation Inc. and its unions were expected to negotiate through the weekend in advance of a Monday court decision that could lead to a strike or even liquidation for the Northwest Airlines Corp. feeder carrier.

Mesaba has been reorganizing under bankruptcy protection for a year and is seeking major pay cuts from its pilots, flight attendants and mechanics. They're negotiating toward an effective deadline of 2 p.m. Monday, when federal bankruptcy judge Gregory Kishel said he will rule on whether Mesaba can impose new terms on those workers. They've said they will strike if that happens, although a judge could potentially block walkouts.

Mesaba had been seeking to cut labor costs by 19.4 percent, although it had backed off to 17.5 percent in its more recent proposals to its unions. The unions have said they would rather see Mesaba go under than accept terms like those.

Looming over the process is the committee of Mesaba's creditors, who have threatened to make some sort of move soon if Mesaba doesn't resolve its labor situation. Under the bankruptcy law, the committee could move to liquidate Mesaba as a way to get some of the money that creditors are owed.

Mesaba, a unit of MAIR Holdings Inc., funnels passengers from nearly 100 cities into Northwest hubs in Detroit, Minneapolis and Memphis. Its fleet of 49 prop-driven planes provides the only air service in many of those cities.

In North Dakota, the airline provides the only commercial service to Devils Lake and Jamestown. It also serves Bismarck, Fargo and Grand Forks.

Last week, Northwest Chief Executive Doug Steenland said Northwest has been making contingency plans in case Mesaba stops flying. He said Northwest has sought to arrange other regional flights in markets where Mesaba is not the only carrier, or find other transportation for passengers where Mesaba provides the only air service. Northwest's other regional carrier is Pinnacle Airlines.

A federal judge blocked Northwest flight attendants from striking in August after that carrier imposed new terms on them. Mesaba has already asked Kishel to do the same.