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Minneapolis (AP) ― Northwest Airlines flight attendants might switch unions on Thursday, right in the middle of their showdown with the bankrupt airline's management.

A judge ruled on Wednesday that Northwest can impose a new contract on July 17. The Professional Flight Attendants Association has said it reserves the right to strike if that happens. But with flight attendants voting on a possible union switch, it wasn't even clear which union would represent them to carry out a strike.

The flight attendants will wrap up two votes within an hour of each other on Thursday.

First they'll decide whether to switch to the Association of Flight Attendants. Then balloting ends on whether the PFAA will affiliate with the Transport Workers Union. A third outcome is possible, if unlikely. If fewer than half of flight attendants cast ballots, they'd be left without any union at all, under airline labor law.

The PFAA has been rocked by turmoil, with several high-level officers and negotiators resigning in the past year. The discontent led the AFA to announce on Sept. 14 -- the same day as Northwest's bankruptcy filing -- that it would try to organize Northwest's 9,300 flight attendants. As recently as three years ago flight attendants voted to leave the Teamsters and form the independent PFAA.

Little is expected to change if the current union affiliates with the TWU. It has already been providing negotiating and legal help to the PFAA.

But a vote to switch to the AFA would put a new union in charge of negotiations that have reached their endgame.

The National Mediation Board is running that election, and its rules call for it to certify the winning union within one business day. That would fall on Friday -- the same day more talks are scheduled with Northwest, and just six days before Northwest will be free to impose its contract on flight attendants.

"We will begin immediately. We have spent a lot of time and resources on making sure this is a smooth transition," said AFA spokeswoman Corey Caldwell.

Furthermore, the AFA could benefit from a fight the current union had with Northwest over dues collection.

For about two years ending last year, Northwest refused to deduct PFAA union dues from paychecks. Many members declined to pay because they were upset with union leaders. PFAA spokeswoman Karen Schultz said about 15 percent of its members, or roughly 1,400 people, have refused to pay those back dues.

National Mediation Board rules allow those flight attendants to vote in the election between the current union and the AFA. But the PFAA is barring those same flight attendants from voting on whether to affiliate with the TWU.

Whoever wins Thursday's elections, it's not clear whether Northwest has any incentive to negotiate something different with flight attendants. It has already won permission to impose a contract rejected by 80 percent of flight attendants last month. Northwest would have to wait for flight attendants to vote on a new tentative agreement. That took three months last time.

By imposing a new contract, Northwest will be going further than any other airline in the recent string of airline bankruptcies.

The airline is eager to get a cost-cutting deal with flight attendants because they are the last holdouts to its goal of getting $1.4 billion in labor savings. However, its new pacts with its other large unions don't go into effect until they all do. In the meantime, Northwest union employees are working under temporary cuts imposed in bankruptcy court.

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