There are several options available to the union's master executive council, officials said.
But Rick Dubinsky, the chairman of the master executive council of the airline pilots' union at United, said the union had not signed off on the latest merger attempt.
Captain Dubinsky served out a second two-year term as chairman of the union's master executive council and left office in 1991.
The vote by the union's master executive council was unanimous, said the Air Line Pilots Association, which represents pilots at Canadian and United States carriers, including Northwest.
When bargainers refused to accept the company's last offer, the airline asked that the union's 12-member master executive council consider it.
Last week, Rick Dubinsky, the chairman of the United union's master executive council who is also on UAL's board, criticized Mr. Goodwin for pursuing the merger before first sealing a new contract with the pilots.
Paul Whiteford, a captain who is chairman of the master executive council for the pilots' union at United, said the agreement would make United a "more effective competitor" against both traditional and low-fare carriers.
On Friday, the union's 12-member master executive council decided to send bargainers back to the negotiating table for the first time since talks broke off the previous Sunday.
The 22 voting members of the board, known as the master executive council, split 18 to 4 in favor of forwarding the new five-year contract to the union's nearly 10,000 members for a ratification vote.
The 22 voting members of the union's board, which is known as the master executive council, began meeting Saturday in Atlanta to decide whether to pass the agreement on to the union's 9,800 members for a ratification vote.
